
A '& 

Rank H U 4 



THE 

ROMAN QUESTION. 



BY 



E. ABOUT 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, 



BY 



EL C. COAPE. 



NEW YOEK : 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 



346 & 348 BEOADWAY. 

1859. 



*b 









PREFACE. 



It was in the Papal States that I studied the Eoman 
Question. I travelled over every part of the coun- 
try ; I conversed with men of all opinions, examined 
things very closely, and collected my information on 
the spot. 

My first impressions, noted down from day to day 
without any especial object, appeared, with some 
necessary modifications, in the Moniteur Universel. 
These notes, truthful, somewhat unconnected, and so 
thoroughly impartial, that it would be easy to dis- 
cover in them contradictions and inconsistencies, I 
was obliged to discontinue, in consequence of the 
violent outcry of the Pontifical Government. I did 
more. I threw them in the fire, and wrote a book 
instead. The present volume is the result of a year's 
reflection. 

I completed my study of the subject by the pe- 
rusal of the most recent works published in Italy. 
The learned memoir of the Marquis Pepoli, and the 
admirable reply of an anonymous writer to M. de 



4 PREFACE. 

Rayneval, supplied me with my best weapons. I 
nave been further enlightened by the conversation 
and correspondence of some illustrious Italians, whom 
I would gladly name, were I not afraid of exposing 
them to danger. 

The pressing condition of Italy has obliged me to 
write more rapidly than I could have wished ; and 
this enforced haste has given a certain air of warmth, 
perhaps of intemperance, even to the most carefully 
matured reflections. It was my intention to produce 
a memoir, — I fear I may be charged with having 
written a pamphlet. Pardon me certain vivacities 
of style, which I had not time to correct, and plunge 
boldly into the heart of the book. You will find 
something there. 

I fight fairly, and in good faith. I do not pretend 
to have judged the foes of Italy without passion ; but 
I have calumniated none of them. 

If I have sought a publisher in Brussels, while I 
had an excellent one in Paris, it is not because I 
feel any alarm on the score of the regulations of our 
press, or the severity of our tribunals. But as the 
Pope has a long arm, which might reach me in 
France, I have gone a little out of the way to tell 
him the plain truths contained in these pages. 

May 9, 1859. 



CONTENTS. 



I. The Pope as a Kixg, ... 7 

II. Necessity of the Te^tpoeal Powee, . . 14 

III. The Pateimoxy of the Tempoeal Powee, . .19 

IV. The Subjects of the Tempoeal Powee, . 25 
Y. Of the Plebeians, . . . . .33 

YI. The Middle Classes, .... 44 

VII. The Mobility, . . . . .55 

VIII. Foeeigxees, ..... 69 
IX. Absolute Chaeactee of the Tempoeal Powee of 

the Pope, . . . . . .84 

X. Pius IX., 92 

XI. Axtoxelli, . . . . . .98 

XII. Peiestly Goyeexmext, . 109 

XIII. Political Seyeeity, . . . .116 

XIV. The Impuxity of Eeal Ceime, . . 123 
XV. Toleeaxce, . . . . .137 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PAGB 

XVI. Education op the People, . . . 148 

XVII. Foeeign Occupation, . . . .162 

XVIII. "Why the Pope will neyee have Soldiees, . 172 

XIX. Mateeial Inteeests, . . . .185 

XX. Finances, . . . . .203 

Conclusion, ...... 215 



THE ROMAN QUESTION. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE POPE AS A KING. 

The Roman Catholic Church, which I sincerely respect, con- 
sists of one hundred and thirty-nine millions of individuals 
— without counting little Mortara. 

It is governed by seventy Cardinals, or Princes of the 
Church, in memory of the twelve Apostles. 

The Cardinal-Bishop of Rome, who is also designated by 
the name of Vicar of Jesus Christ, Holy Father, or Pope, is 
invested with boundless authority over the minds of these 
hundred and thirty-nine millions of Catholics. 

The Cardinals are nominated by the Pope ; the Pope is 
nominated by the Cardinals ; from the day of his election he 
becomes infallible, at least in the opinion of M. de Maistre, 
and the best Catholics of our time. 

This was not the opinion of Bossuet ; but it has always 
been that of the Popes themselves. 

When the Sovereign Pontiff declares to us that the Vir- 
gin Mary was born free from original sin, the hundred and 
thirty-nine millions of Catholics are bound to believe it on 
his word. This is what has recently occurred. 



8 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

This discipline of the understanding reflects infinite credit 
upon the nineteenth century. If posterity does us justice, it 
will be grateful to us therefor. It will see that instead of 
cutting one another's throats about theological questions, we 
have surveyed lines of railway, laid telegraphs, constructed 
steam-engines, launched ships, pierced isthmuses, created 
sciences, corrected laws, repressed factions, fed the poor, 
civilized barbarians, drained marshes, cultivated waste lands, 
without ever having a single dispute as to the infallibility of 
a man. 

But the busiest age, the age which the best knows the 
value of time, may be obliged for a moment to neglect its 
business. If, for instance, it should remark around Rome 
and its Bishop a violent agitation, which neither the trick- 
ery of diplomacy nor the pressure of armies can suppress ; if 
it perceive in a little corner of a peninsula a smouldering 
fire, which may at any moment burst forth, and in twenty- 
four hours envelope all Europe, this age, prudent from a 
sense of duty, on account of the great things it has to accom- 
plish, turns its attention to the situation of Rome, and insists 
upon knowing what it all means. 

It means that the simple princes of the middle ages, Pepin 
the Brief, Charlemagne, and the Countess Matilda, behaved 
with great liberality to the Pope. They gave him lands and 
men, according to the fashion of the times, when men, being 
merely the live-stock of the land, were thrown into the bar- 
gain. If they were generous, it was not because they thought, 
with M. Thiers, that the Pope could not be independent with- 
out being a King ; they had seen him in his poverty more 
independent and more commanding than almost any monarch 
on the earth. They enriched him from motives of friendship, 
calculation, gratitude, or it might even be to disinherit their 
relations, as we sometimes see in our own time. Since the 



THE POPE A5 A KLN'G. 9 

days of the Countess Matilda, the Pope, haviDg acquired a 
taste for possession, has gone on roundiDg his estate. He 
has obtained cities by capitulation, as in the case of Bologna ; 
he has won others at the cannon's mouth, as Rimini : while 
some he has appropriated, by treachery and stealth, as Ancona. 
Indeed so well hare matters been managed, that in 1859 the 
Bishop of Home is the temporal sovereign of about six mil- 
lions of acres, and reigns over three millions one hundred and 
twenty-four thousand six hundred and sixty-eight men, who 
are all crying out loudly against him. 

What do they complain of ? Only listen, and you will 
soon learn. 

They say — that the authority to which, without having 
either asked or accepted it, they are subject, is the most 
fundamentally absolute that was ever denned by Aristotle ; 
that the legislative, executive, and judicial powers are united, 
confounded, and jumbled together in one and the same hand, 
contrary to the practice of civilized states, and to the theory 
of Montesquieu ; that they willingly recognize the infallibility 
of the Pope upon ail religious questions, but that in civil 
matters it appears to them less easy to tolerate ; that they do 
not refuse to obey, because, all things considered, man is not 
placed here below to follow the bent of his own inclinations, 
but that they would be glad to obey laws ; that the good 
pleasure of any man, however good it may be, is not so good 
as the Code Napoléon ; that the reigning Pope is not an evil- 
disposed man, but that the arbitrary government of one man, 
even admitting his infallibilitv, can never be anvthing but a 
bad government. 

That in virtue of an ancient and hitherto ineradicable 
practice, the Pope is assisted in the temporal government of 
his States by the spiritual chiefs, subalterns, and spiritual 
employés of his Church : that Cardinals, Bishops, Canons, 



10 the eoma2x ;tz-i::::. 

Priests, forage pell-mell about the country; that one sole 
and identical caste possesses the right of administering both 
sacraments and provinces ; of confirming little boys and the 
judgments of the lower courts ; of ordaining subdeacons and 
arrests ; of despatching parting souls and captains* commis- 
sions ; that this confusion of the spiritual and the temporal 

e ruinates among the higher offices a multitude of men. 
: z : filent no doubt in the sight of God. but insupportable in 
that of the people : often strangers : ; the country, sometimes 
to business, and atwsys k those It rnicp t J e ties — Lieh are the 
basis of every society without any special knowledge, unless 
it be of the things of another world ; without children, which 
renders them indifferent to the future of the nation ; without 
wivf which renders them dangerous to its present; and to 
conclude, unwilling to hear reason, because they beii sic 
themselves participators in the pontifical infallibil: 

That these servants of a most merciful but sometimes 
Krren God, simultaneously abuse both mercy and justice; 
that, full of indulgence for the indifferent for their friends, 
and for themselves, they treat with extreme rigour whoever 

had the misfortune to become obnoxious to power ; that 
they more readily pardon the wretch who cuts a man's throat, 
than the imprudent citizen who blames an abate, 

That the Pope, and the Priests -^ho assist him, not hav- 
ing been taught accounts grossly mismanage the public 
finai : whereas maladministration or malversation of 

the public finances might have been tolerated a hundred 
ago, when the expeiiSTS :: public worship and of the 
papal court were defrayed by one hundred and thirty-nine 
millions of Catholics, it is a widely different affair now, when 
they have to be suppor: "__- S individu:. 

That they do not complain of paying tax; - uiae it it 

a universal- wished practice, but that they wish to see 






THE POPE AS A KTXG. 11 

their money spent upon terrestrial objects ; that the sight of 
basilicas, churches, and convents built or maintained at their 
expense, rejoices them as Catholics, but grieves them as citi- 
zens, because, after all, these edifices are but imperfect sub- 
stitutes for railways and roads, for the clearing of rivers, and 
the erection of dykes against inundations; that faith, hope, 
and charity receive more encouragement than agriculture, 
commerce, and manufactures; that public simplicity is de- 
veloped to the detriment of public education. 

That the law and the police are too much occupied with 
the salvation of souls, and too little with the preservation of 
bodies ; that they prevent honest people from damning them- 
selves by swearing, reading bad books, or associating with 
Liberals, but that they don't prevent rascals from murdering 
honest people ; that property is as badly protected as per- 
sons ; and that it is very hard to be able to reckon upon 
nothing for certain but a stall in Paradise. 

That they are made to pay heavily for keeping up an 
army without knowledge or discipline, an army of problem- 
atical courage and doubtful honours, and destined never to 
fight except against the citizens themselves ; that it is add- 
ing insult to injury to make a man pay for the stick he is 
beaten with. That they are moreover obliged to lodge for- 
eign armies, and especially Austrians, who, as Germans, are 
notoriously heavy-fisted. 

To conclude, they say all this is not what the Pope 
promised them in his motu proprio of the 19th of Septem- 
ber ; and it is sad to find infallible people breaking their 
most sacred engagements. 

I have no doubt these grievances are exaggerated. It is 
impossible to believe that an entire nation can be bo terribly 
in the right against its masters. "We will examine the facts 
of the case in detail before we decide. TVe have not vet ar- 
rived at that point. 



12 



THE BOW AX QlJ-Sl'lOX. 



You hare just heard the language, if not of the whole 
3.1Ï- . B people, at least of the i _ _e most 

energetic, and the most inter-rs:::^ part of the nation. Take 
away the eonser- : I^- : ~- — '■-'-'■ say 'hose who L 

an interest in the government, — and the unfortunate crea- 
tures whom it has utterly brutalized. — and there will remain 
n me but malcontent ; 

The malcontents are not all of the me complez 
Some politely and Tainly ask the Holy Father, to reform 
abuses: this is the moderate par:y. C - propose to 
then ~ :>t; a thorough reform of the government: they are 
called radicals. révolu: sfee — rather an inju- 

.5 term. This latter category is not precisely nice as to 
the measures to be resorted to. It holds — itfa the Sod 
of Jesus, that the end ; osf in e s :"_-.; i_t _- Z' : _: Z 
lea" -: --'.-.£ with the I it will begin by cutting 

his throat; and if foreign :entate? such criminal 

viole it wîH ffing bombs voder their earri 

T m rate party ::self plainly, the Mazzi- 

nisii Mmaly. Europe must be w : to under- 

stand the one : ve: not to hear the other. 

^L:.: :Z: ni", fis ' 

All the States which desire peace, public order, and 
civilization, entreat the Pope to correct some abuse or other. 
"Have pity they ay if not upon ycur subjects, at least 
upon your nek 5 from the eonnagratk b 

As often as this intervention is renewed, the Pope sends 
for : State. The said Secretary of State i 

Cardinal who reigns over the Hoi 7 7 : in temporal mat- 
- eTen : .- Holy Fathf 1 reignt Ft : r a hundred and 

ty nine millions of Catholics in spiritual ma:: The 

Pope confil be source of his em- 

barrassment, and asks him whs: . be done. 



rzz 7 ::z ^ a kts'G. 13 

The Cardinal, who is the minister of everything in the 
~ithout a moment's hesitation, to the old s:v- 
ereign : — " In the first place, there are no abnses : in the 
next place, if there were any. we must not touch them. Z 
reform anything is to make a concession to the malcontent 
I : give way u U prove that we are afraid To admit : 
is to double the strength of the enemy, to open the gates to 
revolution, and to take the road to Gaeta. where the accom- 
modation is none of the best. Don't let us leave home. 1 
know the house we live in ; it is not new, hut it will last 
longer than your Holiness — provided no attempt is mad ? - : 
repair it. After us the deluge wéVe got no children . 

•■ All very true." replies the Pope. u Bit the Bora agi, 
who is entreating me to do something, is an el a of the 

Church. He has rendered us great services. He still pro- 
tect- istantly. What would become of us if he aban- 
doned us 

Don't be alarms says the Cardinal. " I'll arrange 
the matter diplomatically." And he sifa „:>wn. and wi 
an invariable note, in a diplomatically tortuous style, which 
may thus be summed up : — 

■■We wan: tout soldi::? arid not vour advice, seeing 

• » _ 

that we are infallible. If you were to show any symptom of 
doubting that infallibility, and if you attempted to force 
anything upon us, even our preservation, we would fold our 
wings around our countenances w :uld raise the palms of 
martyrdom, and we should become an object of compas-: _ 
to all the Catholics in the universe. You know we have in 
vour country forty thousand men who are at liberty to say 
everything, and whom you pay with your own money : : 
plead our cause. They hall preach to your subjects, that 
you are tyrannizing over the Holj Father, and we shall set 
your country in a blaze without appearing to touch it.' 5 



CHAPTER 'IL 

NECESSITY OF THE TEMPOEAL POWEE. 

11 For the Pontificate there is no independence but sovereign- 
ty itself. Here is an interest of the highest order, which 
ought to silence the particular interests of nations, even as 
in a State the public interest silences individual interests." 

These are not my words, but the words of M. Thiers : 
they occur in his report to the Legislative Assembly, in 
October 1849. I have no doubt this Father of the temporal 
Church expressed the wishes of one hundred and thirty-nine 
millions of Catholics, It was all Catholicity which said to 
3,124,668 Italians, by the lips of the honourable reporter : 
" Devote yourselves as one man. Our chief can only be 
venerable, august, and independent, so long as he reigns 
despotically over you. If, in an evil hour, he were to cease 
wearing a crown of gold ; if you were to contest his right to 
make and break laws ; if you were to give up the wholesome 
practice of laying at his feet that money which he disburses 
for our edification and our glory, all the sovereigns of the 
universe would look upon him as an inferior. Silence, then, 
the noisy chattering of your individual interests." 

I flatter myself that I am as fervent a Catholic as M. 
Thiers himself; and were I bold enough to seek to refute 
him, I should do it in the name of our common faith. 

I grant you — this would be the tenor of my argument — 



NECESSITY OF THE TEilPOEAL POWEB. 15 

that the Pope ought to be independent. But could he not 
be so at a somewhat less cost ? Is it absolutely necessary 
that 3,124,668 men should sacrifice their liberty, their securi- 
ty, and all that is most precious to them, in order to secure 
the independence which makes us so happy and so* proud? 
The Apostles were certainly independent at a cheaper rate, 
for they did nobody harm. The most independent of men 
is he who has nothing to lose. He pursues his own path, 
without troubling himself about powers and principalities, for 
the simple reason that the conqueror most bent on acquisi- 
tion can take nothing from him. 

The greatest conquests of Catholicism were made at a 
time when the Pope was not a ruler. Since he has become 
a king, you may measure the territory won from the Church 
by inches. 

The earliest Popes, who were not kings, had no budgets. 
Consequently they had no annual deficits to make up. Con- 
sequently they were not obliged to borrow millions of M. de 
Rothschild. Consequently they were more independent than 
the crowned Popes of more recent times. 

Ever since the spiritual and the temporal have been 
joined, like two Siamese powers, the most august of the two 
has necessarily lost its independence. Every day, or nearly 
so, the Sovereign Pontiff finds himself called upon to choose 
between the general interests of the Church, and the private 
interests of his crown. Think you he is sufficiently estranged 
from the things of this world to sacrifice heroically the earth, 
which is near, to the Heaven, which is remote? Besides, we 
have history to help us I might, if I chose, refer to certain 
bad Popes who were capable of selling the dogma of the 
Holy Trinity for half-a-dozen leagues of territory; but it 
would be hardly fair to argue from bad Popes to the confu- 
sion of indifferent ones. Think you, however, that when the 



16 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

Pope legalized the perjury of Francis the First after the 
treaty of Madrid, he did it to make the morality of the Holy 
See respected, or to stir up a war useful to his crown ? 

When he organized the traffic in indulgences, and threw 
one-half of Europe into heresy, was it to increase the num- 
ber of Christians, or to give a dowry to a young lady ? 

When, during the Thirty Years' War, he made an alli- 
ance with the Protestants of Sweden, was it to prove the dis- 
interestedness of the Church, or to humble the House of 
Austria ? 

When he excommunicated Venice in 1806, was it to at- 
tach the Republic more firmly to the Church, or to serve the 
rancour of Spain against the first allies of Henry IV. ? 

When he suppressed the Order of the Jesuits, was it to 
reinforce the army of the Church, or to please his master in 
France ? 

When he terminated his relations with the Spanish 
American provinces upon their proclaiming their independ- 
ence, was it in the interest of the Church, or of Spain ? 

When he held excommunication suspended over the heads 
of such Romans as took their money to foreign lotteries, 
was it to attach their hearts to the Church, or to draw their 
crown-pieces into his own treasury ? 

M. Thiers knows all this better than I do ; but he pos- 
sibly thought that when the spiritual sovereign of the 
Church and the temporal sovereign of a little country, wear 
the same cap, the one is naturally condemned to minister to 
the ambition or the necessities of the other. 

We wish the chief of the Catholic religion to be inde- 
pendent, and we make him pay slavish obedience to a 
petty Italian prince ; thus rendering the future of that re- 
ligion subordinate to miserable local interests and petty 
parish squabbles. 



NECESSITY OF THE TESEPOEAL POWEE. 17 

But this union of powers, which would gain by separa- 
tion, compromises not only the independence, but the dig- 
nity of the Pope. The melancholy obligation to govern 
men obliges him to touch many things which he had better 
leave alone. Is it not deplorable that bailiffs must seize a 
debtor's property in the Pope's name ? — that judges must 
condemn a murderer to death in the name of the Head of 
the Church ? — that the executioner must cut off heads in the 
name of the Yicar of Christ ? There is to me something 
truly scandalous in the association of those two words, Pon- 
tifical lottery / And what can the hundred and thirty-nine 
millions of Catholics think, when they hear their spiritual 
sovereign expressing, through his finance minister, his satis- 
faction at the progress of vice as proved by the success of 
the lotteries ? 

The subjects of the Pope are not scandalized at these 
contradictions, simply because they are accustomed to them. 
They strike a foreigner, a Catholic, a casual unit out of the 
hundred and thirty-nine millions ; they inspire in him an ir- 
resistible desire to defend the independence and the dignity 
of the Church. But the inhabitants of Bologna or Viter- 
bo, of Terracina or Ancona, are more occupied with national 
than with religious interests, either because they want that 
feeling of self-devotion recommended by M. Thiers, or be- 
cause the government of the priests has given them a horror 
of Heaven. Yery middling Catholics, but excellent citizens, 
they everywhere demand the freedom of their country. The 
Bolognese affirm that they are not necessary to the inde- 
pendence of the Pope, which they say could do as well with- 
out Bologna as it has for some time contrived to do without 
Avignon. Every city repeats the same thing, and if they 
were all to be listened to, the Holy Father, freed from the 
cares of administration, might devote his undivided atten- 



18 THE EOArAX QUESTION. 

tion to the interests of the Church and the embellishment 
of Rome. The Romans themselves, so they be neither 
princes, nor priests, nor serrants, nor beggars, declare that 
they have devoted themselves long enough, and that M. 
Thiers may now carry his advice elsewhere. 






CHAPTER III. 

THE PATRIMONY OF THE TEMPOEAL POWEE. 

The Papal States Lave no natural limits : they are carved 
out on the map as the chance of passing events has made 
them, and as the good-nature of Europe has left them. An 
imaginary line separates them from Tuscany and Modena. 
The most southerly point enters into the kingdom of Naples ; 
the province of Benevento is.enclosed within the states of King 
Ferdinand, as formerly was the Comtat-Yenaissin within the 
French territory. The Pope, in his turn, shuts in that 
Ghetto of democracy, the republic of San Marino. 

I never cast my eyes over this poor map of Italy, capri- 
ciously rent into unequal fragments, without one consoling re- 
flection. 

Nature, which has done everything for the Italians, has 
taken care to surround their country with magnificent bar- 
riers. The Alps and the sea protect it on all sides, isolate 
it, bind it together as a distinct body, and seem to design it 
for an individual existence. To crown all, no internal bar- 
rier condemns the Italians to form separate nations. The 
Apennines are so easily crossed, that the people on either side 
can speedily join hands. All the existing boundaries are en- 
tirely arbitrary, traced by the brutality of the Middle Ages, 
or the shaky hand of diplomacy, which undoes to-morrow 
what it does to-day. A single race covers the soil ; the same 



- ' rr_z r. ; ::_:•- ~z- 

languagf n 3f :ken from north to south: the people are all 
united in a common bond by the glory of their ancestors, and 
the recollections of Roman conquest, fresher and more vivid 
--:.- :'- . _:.::-:.'.« :: ~'ii :.•/.::-.-.:_:'_ .:l:::; 

These considerations induce me to believe that the people 
of Italy will one day be independent of all others, and united 
:.~ :-__- :z-rnsf>£s .7 izt ::r:-e :: _ . :rn*:'_T ;.-_! 'J.r.::~ :~ : 
powers more invincible tkan Èlm ria. 

Bu: I id mm à mes mouioas, and to their shepherd, the 

Fhe kingdom possessed by a few priests, covers an extent, 
in round numbers, of six millions of acres : sording to the 
statistics published in I v '.' 7 - - r - or ? now Cardinal, 

country in Europe is more richly gifted, or possesses 
greater advantages, whether for agriculture, manufacture 

I ravened the Apennines, which divide it about 

equally, the Papal dominions incline gently, on one side to 
the Adriatic, on the other to the Mediterranean. In each 
:: :lese se-is :i - . - exifllfr.: - ::- -: _-_:.- 

cona; to the west Civita Yeeehia» If Panurge had had 
_iL::i: ir_l [.-:::. '■' - : :"_::, :l Li» ^:.^_:.jiil:„v. zizzi'-—. 
he would infallibly have built himself a navy. The Phoeni- 
~.zi . - .- ^ _:i::.is vrerf r_:: ; : ~ .-.. :~ 
A river, tolerably well known under the name of the 
Tiber, waters nearlj the -hole country to the west. In for- 
mer days - . _inistered to the wants of internal commerce. 
Roman historians describe it as navigable up to Perugia. 
the present time it is hardly so as far as Rome ; but i: 
bed were cleared out, and filth not allowed to be thrown in, 
~>uld render great fee, and would not overflow so 

often. The country on the other side is watered by small 



PATRIMONY OF THE TEMPOEAL POWER. 21 

rivers, which, with a little government assistance, might be 
rendered very serviceable. 

In the level country the land is of prodigious fertility. 
More than a fourth of it will grow corn. Wheat yields a 
return of fifteen for one on the best land, thirteen on mid- 
dling, and nine on the worst. Fields thrown out of cultiva- 
tion become admirable natural pastures. The hemp is of 
very fine quality when cultivated with care. The vine and 
the mulberry thrive wherever they are planted. The finest 
olive-trees and the best olives in Europe grow in the moun- 
tains. A variable, but generally mild climate, brings to ma- 
turity the products of extreme latitudes. Half the country 
is favourable to the palm and the orange. Numerous and 
thriving flocks roam across the plains in winter, and ascend 
to the mountains in summer. Horses, cows, and sheep live 
and multiply in the open air, without need of shelter. In- 
dian buffaloes swarm in the marshes. Every species of prod- 
uce requisite for the food and clothing of man grows easily, 
and as it were joyfully, in this privileged land. If men in 
the midst of it are in want of bread or shirts, Nature has no 
cause to reproach herself, and Providence washes its hands 
of the evil. 

In all the three states raw material exists in incredible 
abundance. Here are hemp, for ropeinakers, spinners, and 
weavers ; wine, for distillers ; olives, for oil and soap makers ; 
wool, for cloth and carpet manufacturers ; hides and skins, 
for tanners, shoemakers, and glovers ; and silk in any quantity 
for manufactures of luxury. The iron ore is of middling 
quality, but the island of Elba, in which the very best is 
found, is near at hand. The copper and lead mines, which 
the ancients worked profitably, are perhaps not exhausted. 
Fuel is supplied by a million or two of acres of forest land ; be- 
sides which, there is the sea, always open for the transport 



22 THE EOMAN" QUESTION. 

of coal from Newcastle. The volcanic soil of several prov- 
inces produces enormous quantities of sulphur, and the alum 
of Tolfi is the best in the world.' The quartz of Civita 
Yecchia will give us kaolin for porcelain. The quarries 
contain building materials, such as marble and pozzolana, 
which is Roman cement almost ready-made. 

In 1847, the country lands subject to the Pope were 
valued at about £34,800,000 sterling. The province of 
Benevento was not included, and the Minister of Commerce 
and Public Works admitted that the property was not esti- 
mated at above a third of its real value. If capital returned 
its proper interest, if activity and industry caused trade and 
manufactures to increase the national income as ought to be 
the case, it would be the Rothschilds who would borrow 
money of the Pope at six per cent, interest. 

But stay ! I have not yet completed the catalogue of 
possessions. To the present munificence of nature must be 
added the inheritance of the past. The poor Pagans of great 
Rome left all their property to the Pope who damns them. 

They left him gigantic aqueducts, prodigious sewers, and 
roads which we find still in use, after twenty centuries of 
traffic. They left him the Coliseum, for his Capuchins to 
preach in. They left him an example of an administration 
without an equal in history. But the heritage was accepted 
without the responsibilities attached to it. 

I will no longer conceal from you that this magnificent 
territory appeared to me in the first place most unworthily 
cultivated. From Civita Vecchia to Rome, a distance of 
some sixteen leagues, cultivation struck me in the light of a 
very rare accident, to which the soil was but little accustom- 
ed. Some pasture fields, some land in fallow, plenty of 
brambles, and, at long intervals, a field with oxen at plough : 
this is what the traveller will see in April. He will not 



PATEIMONY OF THE TEMPORAL POWEK. 23 

even meet with the occasional forest which he finds in the 
most desert regions of Turkey. It seems as if man had 
swept across the land to destroy everything, and the soil had 
been then taken possession of by flocks and herds. 

The country round Rome resembles the road from Civita 
Vecchia. The capital is girt by a belt of uncultivated, but 
not unfertile land. I used to walk in every direction, and 
sometimes for a long distance ; the belt seemed very wide. 
However, in proportion as I receded from the city, I found 
the fields better cultivated. One would suppose that at a 
certain distance from St. Peter's the peasants worked with 
greater relish. The roads, which near Rome are detestable, 
became gradually better; they were more frequented, and 
the people I met seemed more cheerful. The inns became 
habitable, by comparison, in an astonishing degree. Still, so 
long as I remained in that part of the country towards the 
Mediterranean, of which Rome is the centre, and which is 
more directly subject to its influence, I found that the 
appearance of the land always left something to be desired. 
I sometimes fancied that these honest labourers worked as 
if they were afraid to make a noise, lest, by smiting the soil 
too deeply and too boldly, they should wake up the dead of 
past ages. 

But when once I had crossed the Apennines, when I was 
beyond the reach of the breeze which blew over the capital, I 
began to inhale an atmosphere of labour and goodwill that 
cheered my heart. The fields were not only dug, but ma- 
nured, and, still better, planted and sown. The smell of ma- 
nure was quite new to me. I had never met with it on the 
other side of the Apennines. I was delighted at the sight 
of trees. There were rows of vines twining around elms 
planted in fields of hemp, wheat, or clover. In some places 
the vines and elms were replaced by mulberry-trees. What 



24 THE KOMAN QUESTION. 

mingled riches were here lavished by nature ! How boun- 
teous is the earth ! Here were mingled together, in rich 
profusion, bread, wine, shirts, silk gowns, and forage for the 
cattle. St. Peter's is a noble church, but, in its way, a well- 
cultivated field is a beautiful sight ! 

I travelled slowly to Bologna ; the sight of the country 
I passed through, and the fruitfulness of honest human 
labour, made me happy. I retraced my steps towards St. 
Peter's ; my melancholy returned when I found myself again 
amidst the desolation of the Roman Campagna. 

As I reflected on what I had seen, a disquieting idea 
forced itself upon me in a geometrical form. It seemed to 
me that the activity and prosperity of the subjects of the 
Pope were in exact proportion to the square of the distance 
which separated them from Home : in other words, that the 
shade of the monuments of the eternal city was noxious to 
the cultivation of the country. Rabelais says the shade of 
monasteries is fruitful ; but he speaks in another sense. 

I submitted my doubts to a venerable ecclesiastic, who 
hastened to undeceive me. " The country is not unculti- 
vated," he said; " or if it be so, the fault is with the sub- 
jects of the Pope. This people is indolent by nature, al- 
though 21,415 monks are always preaching activity and 
industry to them ! " 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPOEAL POWEE. 

On the 14th of May, 1856, M. de Rayneval, then French 
ambassador at Rome, a warm friend to the cardinals, and 
consequently a bitter foe to their subjects, thus described 
the Italian people : — 

u A nation profoundly divided among themselves, ani- 
mated by ardent ambition, possessing none of the qualities 
which constitute the greatness and power of others, devoid 
of energy, equally wanting in military spirit and in the spirit 
of association, and respecting neither the law nor social dis- 
tinctions." 

M. de Rayneval will be canonized a hundred years hence 
(if the present system continue) for having so nobly de- 
fended the oppressed. 

It will not be foreign to my purpose to try my own 
hand at this picture ; for the subjects of the Pope are 
Italians like the rest, and there is but one nation in the 
Italian peninsula. The difference of climate, the vicinity 
of foreigners, the traces of invasions, may have modified the 
type, altered the accent, and slightly varied the language ; 
still the Italians are the same everywhere, and the middle 
class — the elite of every people — think and speak alike from 
Turin to Naples. Handsome, robust, and healthy, when the 
neglect of Governments has not delivered them over to the 
2 



26 the po vav Qrxsnox. 

fatal malaria, the Italians are, mentally, the most richly 
endowed people in Europe. 31. de Rayneval. who is not the 
man to natter them, admits that thev have " intelligence, 
penetration, and aptitude for everything.'" The cultivation 
of the arts is no less natural to them than is the study of 
the sciences ; their first steps in every path open to human 
intellect are singularly rapid, and if but too many of them 
stop before the end is attained, it is because their success is 
generally barred by deplorable circumstances. In private 
as well as public affairs, they possess a quick apprehension 
and sagacity carried to suspicion. There is no race more 
ready at making and discussing laws ; legislation and juris- 
prudence have been among their chief triumphs. The idea 
of law sprang up in Italy at the time of the foundation of 
Rome, and it is the richest production of this marvellous 
soil. The Italians still possess administrative genius in a 
high degree. Administration went forth from the midst of 
them for the conquest of the world, and the greatest ad- 
ministrators known to history. Cœsar and Xapoleon, were 
of Italian origin. 

Thus gifted by nature, they have the sense of their high 
qualities, and they at times carry it to the extent of pride. 
The legitimate desire to exercise the faculties they possess, 
degenerates into ambition ; but their pride would not be 
ludicrous, nor would their ambition appear extravagant, if 
their hands were free for action. Through a long series of 
ages, despotic Governments have penned them into a narrow 
area. The impossibility of realizing high aims, and the 
want of action which perpetually stirs within them, has 
driven them to paltry disputes and local quarrels. Are we 
to infer from this that they are incapable of becoming a 
nation ? I am not of that opinion. Already they are 
uniting to call upon the King of Piedmont, and to applaud 



THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPOEAL POTVEE. 27 

the policy of Count Cavour. If this be not sufficient proof, 
make an experiment. Take away the barriers which sepa- 
rate them ; I will answer for their soon being united. But 
the keepers of these barriers are the King of Naples, the 
Grand Duke of Tuscany, Austria, the Pope, and the rest. 
Are such keepers likely to give up the keys ? 

I know not what are " the qualities which constitute the 
greatness and power of other nations" — as, for example, the 
Austrian nation, — but I know very few qualities, physical, 
intellectual, or moral, which the Italians do not possess. 

Are they " devoid of energy," as M. de Rayneval de- 
clares ? I should rather repoach them with the opposite 
excess. The absurd but resolute defence of Rome against 
the French army, may surely be regarded as the act of an 
energetic people. We must be extremely humble, if we ad- 
mit that a French army was held in check for two months 
by men wanting in energy. The assassinations which occur 
in the streets of Rome, prove rather the inefficiency of the 
police than the effeminacy of the citizens. I find, from an 
official return, that in 1853 the Roman tribunals punished 
609 crimes against property, and 1,344 against the person. 
These figures do not indicate a faultless people, but they 
prove little inclination for base theft, and look rather like a 
diabolical energy. In the same year the Assize Courts in 
France pronounced judgment upon 3,719 individuals charged 
with theft, and 1,921 with crimes against the person. The 
proportion is reversed. Robbers have the majority with us. 
And yet we are rather an energetic people. 

If the Italians are so also, there will not be much diffi- 
culty in making soldiers of them. M. de Rayneval tells us, 
they are " entirely wanting in military spirit." No doubt 
he echoed the opinion of some Cardinal. Indeed ! Were 



28 THE ROMA» QUESTION. 

the Piedmontese in the Crimea, then, wanting in the military 
spirit ? 

M. de Rayneval and the Cardinals are willing to admit 
the courage of the Piedmontese, but then, they say, Pied- 
mont is not in Italy ; its inhabitants are half Swiss, half 
French. Their language is not Italian, neither are their 
habits, the proof of which is found in the fact, that they have 
the true military and monarchical spirit, unknown to the rest 
of Italy. According to this, it would be far easier to prove 
that the Alsacians and the Bretons are not French ; the 
first, because they are the best soldiers in the empire, and 
because they say JSfeinherr when we should say Monsieur ; 
the second, because they hare the true monarchical spirit, 
and because they call but un what we call tabac. But all 
the soldiers of Italy are not in Piedmont. The King of 
Xaples has a good army. The Grand Duke of Tuscany has 
a sufficient one for his defence ; the small Duchies of Modena 
and Parma have a smart regiment or two. Lombardy, 
Venice, Modena, and one-half of the Papal States, have given 
heroes to France. Napoleon remembered it at St. Helena ; 
it has been so written. 

As for the spirit of association, I know not where it is to 
be found, if not in Italy. By what is the Catholic world 
governed ? By an Association. What is it but an Associa- 
tion that wastes the revenue of the poor Romans ? Who 
monopolizes their corn, their hemp, their oil ? Who lays 
waste the forests of the State ? An Association. Who take 
possession of the highways, stop diligences, and lay travel- 
lers under contribution ? Five or six Associations. Who 
keeps up agitation at Genoa, at Leghorn, and, above all, 
at Rome ? That secret Association known as the 3Iazzinists. 

I grant that the Romans have but a moderate respect 
for the law. But the truth is, there is no law in the coun- 



THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPOEAL PCTWEE. 29 

try. They hare a respect for the Code Xapoléon, since they 
urgently ask for it. TThat they do not respect is, the official 
caprice of their masters. I am certainly no advocate of 
disorder ; but when I think that a mere fancy of Cardinal 
Antonelli, scribbled on a sheet of paper, has the force of law 
for the present and the future, I can understand an insolent 
contempt of the laws, to the extent of actual revolt. 

As for social distinctions, it strikes me that the Italians 
respect them even too much. When I have led you for half 
an hour through the streets of Rome, you will ask yourselves 
to what a Roman prince can possibly be superior. Never- 
theless the Romans exhibit a sincere respect for their princes : 
habit is so strong ! If I were to conduct vou to the source 
of some of the large fortunes among my acquaintances, you 
would rise with stones and sticks against the superiority of 
wealth. And yet the Romans, dazzled by dollars, are full 
of respect for the rich. If I were to — But I think the 
Italian nation is sufficiently justified, I will but add, that 
if it is easily led to evil, it is still more easily brought back 
to good ; that it is passionate and violent, but not ill-disposed, 
and that a kind act suffices to make it forget the most justi- 
fiable enmities. 

I will add in conclusion, that the Italians are not ener- 
vated by the climate to such a degree as to dislike work. A 
traveller who may happen to have seen some street porters 
asleep in the middle of the day, returns home and informs 
Europe that these lazy people snore from morning till night ; 
that they have few wants, and work just enough to keep 
themselves from one day to another. I shall presently show 
you that the labourers of the rural districts are as indus- 
trious as our own peasants (and that, too, in a very different 
temperature), as economical, provident, and orderly, though 
more hospitable and moro charitable. If the lower orders 



30 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

in the towns have become addicted to extravagance, idleness, 
and mendicity, it is because they have discovered the impos- 
sibility, even by the most heroic efforts and the most rigid 
economy, of gaining either capital or independence or posi- 
tion. Let us not confound discouragement with want of 
courage, nor tax a poor fellow with idleness, merely because 
he has had the misfortune to be knocked down and run over 
by a carriage. 

The Pope reigns over 3,124,668 souls, as I have already 
observed more than once. This population is unequally dis- 
tributed over the surface of the country. The population in 
the provinces of the Adriatic is nearly double that in the 
Mediterranean provinces, and more immediately under the 
Sovereign's eyes. 

Those pious economists who insist upon it that all is for 
the best under the most sacred of governments, will not 
scruple to tell you : — 

" Our State is one of the most populous in Europe : 
therefore it must be one of the best governed. The average 
population of France is 67|- inhabitants to the square kilo- 
metre ; that of the States of the Church 75 T 7 ¥ . It follows 
from this that if the Emperor of the French were to adopt 
our mode of administration, he would have 8~ inhabitants 
more on each square kilomètre ! 

" The province of Ancona, which is occupied by the Aus- 
trians, and governed by priests, has 155 inhabitants to the 
square kilomètre. The Bas-Rhin, which is the fourth de- 
partment of France, has but 129, consequently it is evident 
that the Bas- Rhin will continue to be relatively inferior, so 
long as it is not governed by priests, and occupied by the 
Austrians. 

" The population of our happy country became increased 
by one-third between the vears 1816 and 1853, a space of 






THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. 31 

thirty-seven years. Such a grand result can only be attribu- 
ted to the excellent administration of the Holy Father, and 
the j)reaching of 38,320 priests and monks, who protect youth 
from the destructive influence of the passions.* 

" You will observe that the English have a passion for 
moving about the country. Even in the interior they change 
their residence and their county with an incredible mobility; 
no doubt this is because their country is unhealthy and badly 
administered. In the El Dorado which we govern, no more 
than 178,9-43 individuals are known to have changed their 
abode from one province to another : therefore our subjects 
are all happy in their homes." 

I do not deny the eloquence of these figures, and I am 
not one of those who think statistics prove everybody's case. 
But it seems to me very natural that a rich country, in the 
hands of an agricultural people, should feed 75 inhabitants 
to the square kilomètre, under any sort of government. What 
astonishes me is that it should feed no more ; and I promise 
you that when it is better governed it will feed many more. 
The population of the States of the Church has increased 
by one-third in thirty-seven years. But that of Greece has 
trebled between 1832 and 1853. Nevertheless Greece is in 
the enjoyment of a detestable government ; as I believe I 
have pretty correctly demonstrated elsewhere, f The in- 
crease of a population proves the vitality of a race rather 
than the solicitude of an administration. I will never be- 
lieve that 770,000 children were born between 1816 and 
1853 by the intervention of the priests. I prefer to believe 
that the Italian race is vigorous, moral, and marriageable, 
and that it does not yet despair of the future. 

* Preface to the Official Statistical Returns of 1853, page 6-L 
+ 'La Grèce Contemporaine.' 



THE BOM A B IDSSXIOlf. 

Lastly, if the subjects of the Pope stay at home, instead 
of moring about, it may be because communication between 
one place and another is difficult, or because the author::: es 
are close-fisted in the matter of passports ; it may be. too, 
because they are certain of finding, in whatever part of the 
country they moye to, the same priest?, the s::me judges, and 
the same taxes. 

:: of the population of 3,124,668 souls, more than a 
million are agricultural labourers and shepherds. The work- 
_-_ i:_'::: .:::".. :.•_:; :"_: s:: _ ::l:î fz:::: z'zi ^::!:z;i 
by about 30,000. Trade, finance, and general business 
occupy something under 85,000 persons. 

The landed proprietors are 206,558 in number, being 
about one-fifteenth of the entire population. We haye a 
greater proportion in France. The official statistics of the 
Roman State inform us that if the national wealth were 
equally diyided among all the proprietors, each of the 206,- 
558 families would possess a capital of £680 sterling. But 
they haye omitted to state that some of these landed pro- 
prietors possess 50,000 acres, and others a mere heap of 
~:n:s. 

I : is to be obseryed that the division of land, like ail 
other good things, increases in proportion to the distance 
from the capital. In the province of Rome there are 1 
landed proprietors out of 176.002 inhabitants, which is 
about one in ninety. In the province of Macerata, to- 
wards the Adriatic, there are S 9. '311. out of 243,104, or one 
proprietor to every six inhabit ants, vrhieh is as much as to 
say that in this province there are almcs: as m any proper- 
ties is there are families. 

The Agro Romano, which it took Rome several centu- 
ries to conquer, is at the present time the property of 113 
families, and of 64 corporations ' 

* Etudes Statistiques sur Borne, par le Comte de Tournon. 



CHAPTER V. 

OF THE PLEBEIANS. 

The subjects of the Holy Father are divided by birth 
and fortune into three very distinct classes, — nobility, citi- 
zens, and people, or plebeians. The Gospel has omitted to 
consecrate the inequality of men, but the law of the State 
— that is to say, the will of the Popes — carefully maintains 
it. Benedict XIV. declared it honourable and salutary in 
his Bull of January 4, 1746, and Pius IX. expressed him- 
self in the same terms at the beginning of his Chirografo of 
May 2, 1853. 

If I do not reckon the clergy among the classes of so- 
ciety, it is because that body is foreign to the nation by its 
interests, by its privileges, and often by its origin. The Car- 
dinals and Prelates are not, properly speaking, the Pope's 
subjects, but rather his ghostly confederates, and the part- 
ners of his omnipotence. 

The distinction of class is more especially perceptible at 
Rome, near the Pontifical throne. It gradually disappears, 
together with many other abuses, in proportion to their 
distance from their source. There are bottomless abysses 
between the noble Roman and the citizen of Rome, between 
the citizen of Rome and the plebeian of the city. The 
plebeian himself discharges a portion of the scorn expressed 
by the two superior classes for himself, upon the peasants he 

9* 



34 



THE EOMAN QUESTION. 



meets at market : it is a sort of cascade of contempt. At 
Home, thanks to the traditions of history, and the education 
given by the Popes, the inferior thinks he can get out of 
his nothingness, and become something, by begging the fa- 
vour and support of a superior. A general system of de- 
pendence and patronage makes the plebeian kneel before 
the man of the middle class, who again kneels before the 
prince, who in his turn kneels more humbly than all the 
others before the sovereign clergy. 

At twenty leagues' distance from Ronie there is very little 
kneeling ; beyond the Apennines none at all. "When you 
reach Bologna you find an almost French equality in the 
manners : for the simple reason that Napoleon has left his 
mark there. 

The absolute value of the men in each category in- 
creases according to the square of the distance. You may 
feel almost certain that a Roman noble will be less educated, 
less capable, and less free than a gentleman of the Marches 
or of the Romagna. The middle class, with some exceptions 
which I shall presently mention, is infinitely more numerous, 
more enlightened, and wealthier, to the east of the Apen- 
nines, than in and about the capital. The plebeians them- 
selves have more honesty and morality when they live at 
a respectful distance from the Vatican. 

The plebeians of the Eternal City are overgrown chil- 
dren badly brought up, and perverted in various ways by 
their education. The Government, which, being in the 
midst of them, fears them, treats them mildly. It demands 
few taxes of them ; it gives them shows, and sometimes 
bread, the jpanem et circenses prescribed by the Emperors of 
the Decline. It does not teach them to read, neither does 
it forbid them to beg. It sends Capuchins to their homes. 
The Capuchin gives the wife lottery-tickets, drinks with the 



OF THE PLEBEIANS. 35 

husband, and brings up the children after his kind, and 
sometimes in his likeness. The plebeians of Rome are cer- 
tain never to die of hunger ; if they have no bread, they are 
allowed to help themselves from the baker's basket ; the 
law allows it. All that is required of them is to be good 
Christians, to prostrate themselves before the priests, to 
humble themselves before the rich, and to abstain from revo- 
lutions. They are severely punished if they refuse to take 
the Sacrament at Easter, or if they talk disrespectfully of the 
Saints. The tribunal of the Vicariates listens to no excuses 
on this head ; but the police is enough as to everything else. 
Crimes are forgiven them, they are encouraged in mean- 
ness ; the only offences for which there is no pardon are the 
cry for liberty, revolt against an abuse, the assertion of 
manhood. 

It is marvellous to me that with such an education there 
is any good left in them at all. The worst half of the peo- 
ple is that which dwells in the Monti district. If, in seeking 
the Convent of the Neophytes, or the house of Lucrezia 
Borgia, you miss your way among those foul narrow streets, 
you will find yourself in the midst of a strange medley of 
thieves, sharpers, guitar-players, artists' models, beggars, 
ciceroni, and ruffiani. If you speak to them, you may be 
sure they will kiss your Excellency's hand, and pick your 
Excellency's pocket. I do not think a worse breed is to be 
found in any city in Europe, not even in London. All these 
people practise religion, without the least believing in God. 
The police does not meddle much with them. To be sure 
they are sent to prison now and then, but thanks to a favour- 
able word in the right quarter, or to the want of prison ac- 
commodation, they are soon set at liberty. Even the honest 
workmen their neighbours occasionally get into scrapes. 
They have made plenty of money in the winter, and spent it 



36 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

all in the Carnival — as is the common custom. Summer 
comes, the foreign visitors depart; no more work and no 
more money. Moral training, which might sustain them, is 
wholly wanting. The love of show, that peculiar disease of 
Borne, is their bane. The wife, if she be pretty, sells her- 
self, or the husband does what he had better leave undone. 

Judge them not too harshly. Remember, they have read 
nothing, they have never been out of Rome ; the example of 
ostentation is set them by the Cardinals, of misconduct by 
the prelates, of venality by the different functionaries, of 
squandering by the Finance Minister. And above all, re- 
member that care has been taken to root out from their 
hearts, as if it were a destructive weed, that noble sentiment 
of human dignity which is the principle of every virtue. 

The blood which flows in Italian veins must be very 
generous, or so notable a portion of the plebeians of Rome 
as the people of the Trastevere, could never have preserved 
their manly virtues, as is notoriously the case with them. I 
have met with men in this quarter of the city, coarse, violent, 
sometimes ferocious, but really men ; nice as to their honour, 
to the extent of poniarding any one who is wanting in re- 
spect to them. They are fully as ignorant as the people of 
the Monti ; they have learnt the same lessons, and witnessed 
the same examples ; they have the same improvidence, the 
same love of pleasure, the same brutality in their passions ; 
but they are incapable of stooping, even to pick anything up. 

A government worthy of the name would make something 
of this ignorant force, first taming, and then directing it. 
The man who sfctbs his fellow in a wineshop might prove a 
good soldier on a battle-field. But we are in the capital of 
the Pope. The Trasteverini neither attack God nor the 
Government ; they meddle neither with theology nor politics ; 
no more is asked of them. And in token of its appreciation 



OF THE PLEBEIANS. 37 

of their good conduct, a paternal administration allows them 
to cut one another's throats ad libitum. 

Neither the people of the Trastevere nor of the Monti 
give the least sign of political existence, whereat the Cardi- 
nals rub their hands, and congratulate themselves upon hav- 
ing kept so many men in profound ignorance of all their 
rights. I am not quite certain that the theory is a sound 
one. Suppose, for example, that the democratic committees 
of London and Leghorn were to send a few recruiting officers 
into the Pope's capital. An honest, mild, enlightened ple- 
beian would reflect twice before enrolling himself. He 
would weigh the pros and the cons, and balance for a long 
time between the vices of the government, and the dangers 
of revolution. But the mob of the Monti would take fire 
like a heap of straw at the mere prospect of a scramble, 
while the Trastevere savages would rise to a man, if the 
Papal despotism were represented to them as an attack upon 
their honour. It would be better to have in these plebeians 
foes capable of reasoning. The Pope might often have to 
reckon with them, but he need never tremble before them. 

I trust the masters of the country may never more be 
obliged to fight with the plebeians of Rome. They were 
easily carried away by the leaders of 1848, although the 
name of Republic resounded for the first time in their ears. 
Have they forgotten it ? No. They will long remember 
that magic word, which abased the great, and exalted the 
humble. Moreover, the hidden Mazzinists, who agitate 
throughout the city, don't collect the workmen in the quar- 
ter of the Eegola to preach submission to them. 

I have said that the plebeians of the city of Rome despise 
the plebeians of the country. Be assured, however, the latter 
are not deserving of scorn, even in the Mediterranean prov- 
inces. In this unhappy half of the Pontifical States, the 



38 THE EOMAX QUESTION. 

influence of the Vatican has not yet quite morally destroyed 
the population. The country people are poor, ignorant, 
superstitions, rather wild, but kind, hospitable, and generally 
honest. If you wish to study them more closely, go to one 
of the villages in the province of Frosinone, towards the 
Neapolitan frontier. Cross the plains which malaria has 
made dreary solitudes, take the stony path which winds 
painfully up the side of the mountain. You will come to a 
town of five or ten thousand souls, which is little more than 
a dormitory for five or ten thousand peasants. Viewed from 
a distance, this country town has an almost grand appearance. 
The dome of a church, a range of monastic buildings, the 
tower of a feudal castle, invest it with a certain air of im- 
portance. A troop of women are coming down to the foun- 
tain with copper vessels on their heads. You smile instinc- 
tively. Here is movement and life. Enter ! You are 
struck with a sensation of coldness, dampness, and darkness. 
The streets are narrow flights of steps, which every now and 
then plunge beneath low arches. The houses are closed, 
and seem to have been deserted for a century. Not a human 
being at the doors, or at the windows. The streets, silent 
and solitary. 

You would imagine that the curse of heaven had fallen 
on the country, but for the large placards on the house-fronts, 
which prove that missionary fathers have passed through the 
place. "Viva Gesùf Viva Maria/ Viva il sangue di 
Gesu, ! Viva il cor di Maria ! Bestemmiatori, taceievi 
per Vamor di Maria /" 

These devotional sentences are like so many signboards 
of the public simplicity. 

A quarter of an hour's walk brings you to the principal 
square. Half-a-dozen civil officials are seated in a circle 
before a café, gaping at one another. You join them. They 



OF THE PLEBEIANS. 39 

ask you for news of something that happened a dozen years 
ago. You ask them in turn, what epidemic has depopulated 
the country ? 

Presently some thirty market-men and women begin to 
display on the pavement an assortment of fruit and vege- 
tables. Where are the buyers of these products of the earth ? 
Here they come ! Night is approaching. The entire popu- 
lation begins to return at once from their labour in the 
fields ; a stalwart and sturdy population ; the thew and sinew 
of some fine regiments. Every one of these half-clad men, 
armed with pickaxe and shovel, rose two hours before the 
sun this morning, and went forth to weed a little field, or to 
dig round a few olive-trees. Many of them have their little 
domains several miles off, and thither they go daily, accom- 
panied by a child and a pig. The pig is not very fat, and 
the man and his child are very lean. Still they seem light- 
hearted and merry. They have plucked some wild flowers 
by the roadside. The boy is crowned with roses, like 
Lucullus at table. The father buys a handful of vegetables, 
and a cake of maize, which will furnish the family supper. 
They will sleep well enough on this diet — if the fleas allow 
them. If you like to follow these poor people home, they 
will give you a kindly welcome, and will not fail to ask you 
to partake of their modest meal. Their furniture is very 
simple, their conversation limited; their heads are as well 
furnished as their dwellings. 

The wife who has been awaiting the return of her lord, 
will open the door to you. Of all useful animals, the wife 
is the one which the Roman peasant employs most profit- 
ably. She makes the bread and the cakes ; she spins, weaves, 
and sews ; she goes every day three miles for wood, and one 
and a half for water ; she carries a mule's load on her head ; 
she works from sunrise to sunset, without question or com- 



40 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

plaint. Her numerous children are in themselves a precious 
resource : at four years old they are able to tend sheep and 
cattle. 

It is vain to ask these country people what is their opin- 
ion of Rome and the government : their idea of these mat- 
ters is infinitely vague and shadowy. The Government 
manifests itself to them in the person of an official, who, for 
the sum of three pounds sterling per month, administers and 
sells justice among them. This individual is the only gift 
Home has ever conferred upon them. In return for the 
great benefit of his presence, they pay taxes on a tolerably 
extensive scale : so much for the house, so much for the live- 
stock, so much for the privilege of lighting a fire, so much 
on the wine, and so much on the meat — when they are able 
to enjoy that luxury. They grumble, though not very bit- 
terly, regarding the taxes as a sort of periodical hailstorm 
falling on their year's harvest. If they were to learn that 
Home had been swallowed up by an earthquake, they cer- 
tainly would not put on mourning. They would go forth to 
their fields as usual, they would sell their crops for the usual 
price, and they would pay less taxes. This is what all towns 
inhabited by peasants think of the metropolis. Every town- 
ship lives by itself, and for itself; it is an isolated body, 
which has arms to work, and a belly to fill. The cultivator 
of the land is everything, as was the case in the Middle 
Ages. There is neither trade, nor manufactures, nor busi- 
ness on any extended scale, nor movement of ideas, nor 
political life, nor any of those powerful bonds which, in 
well-governed countries, link the provincial towns to the 
capital, as the members to the heart. 

If there be a capital for these poor people, it is Paradise. 
They believe in it fervently, and strive to attain it with all 
their might. The very peasant who grudges the State two 



OF THE PLEBEIANS. 41 

crowns for his hearth-tax, -willingly pays two and a half to 
have Viva 3Iaria scrawled over his door. Another com- 
plains of the £3 per month paid to the Government official, 
without a murmur at the thirty priests supported by the 
township. There is a gentle disease which consoles them for 
all their ills, called Faith. It does not restrain them from 
dealing a stab with a knife, when the wine is in their brains, 
or rage in their hearts ; but it will always prevent them 
from eating meat on a Friday. 

If you would see them in all the ardour of their simplici- 
ty, you must visit the town on the day of a grand festival. 
Everybody, men, women, and children are rushing to the 
church. A carpet of flowers is spread along the road. 
Every countenance is glowing with excitement. What is 
the meaning of it all ? Don't you know ? — It is the festival 
of Sant' Antonio. A musical Mass is being performed in 
honour of Sant' Antonio. A grand procession is being form- 
ed in honour of that Saint, probably the patron of the place. 
There are little boys dressed up as angels, and men arrayed 
in the sack-like garment of their brotherhoods : here we have 
peasants of the Heart of Jesus ; here, those of the Name 
of Mart ; and here come the Souls oe Purgatory. The 
procession is formed with some little confusion. The people 
embrace one another, upset one another, and fight with one 
another — all in the name of Sant' Antonio. But see ! The 
statue of the worthy Saint is coming out of the church : a 
wooden doll, with flaming red cheeks. Victoria ! Off go 
the petards ! The women weep with joy — the children cry 
out at the top of their shrill voices, u Viva Sant Antonio! " 
At night there are fireworks : a balloon shaped in the sem- 
blance of the Saint ascends amid the shouts of the people, 
and bursts in grand style right over the church. Verily, un- 
less Sant' Antonio be very difficult to please, such homage 



42 THE KOMAN QUESTION. 

must go straight to his heart. And I should think the 
plebeians of the country very exacting, if, after such an in- 
toxicating festival, they were to complain of wanting bread. 

Let us seek a little repose on the other side of the Apen- 
nines. Although the population may not be sufficiently, 
sheltered by a chain of mountains, you will find in the towns 
and villages the stuff for a noble nation. The ignorance is 
still very great ; the blood ever boiling, and the hand ever 
quick; but already we find men who reason. If the work- 
man of the towns be not successful, he guesses the reason ; 
he seeks a remedy, he looks forward, he economizes. If the 
tenant be not rich, he studies with his landlord the means of 
becoming so. Everywhere agriculture is making progress, 
and it will ere long have no further progress to make. Man 
becomes better and greater by dint of struggling with Nature. 
He learns his own value, he sees whither he is tending; in 
cultivating his field, he cultivates himself. 

I am compelled in strict truth to admit that religion 
loses ground a little in these fine provinces. I vainly sought 
in the towns of the Adriatic for those mural inscriptions of 
Viva Gesic ! Viva Maria! and so on, which had so edified 
me on the other side of the Apennines. At Bologna I read 
sonnets at the corners of all the streets, — sonnet to Doctor 
Massarenti, who cured Madame Tagliani ; sonnet to young 
Gruadagni, on the occasion of his becoming Bachelor of Arts, 
etc., etc. At Faenza, these mural inscriptions evinced a cer- 
tain degree of fanaticism, but the fanaticism of the dramatic 
art : Viva la Ristori ! Viva la diva Rossi ! At Rimini, 
and at Forlï, I read Viva Verdi ! (which words had not then 
the political significance they have recently attained,) Viva 
la Lotti ! together with a long list of dramatic and musical 
celebrities. 

While I was visiting the holy house of Loretto, which, as 



OF THE PLEBEIANS. 43 

all the world knows, or ought to know, was transported by 
Angels, furniture and all, from Palestine, to the neighbour- 
hood of Ancona, a number of pilgrims came in upon their 
knees, shedding tears and licking the flags with their tongues. 
I thought these poor creatures belonged to some neighbouring 
village, but I found out my mistake from a workman of An- 
cona, who happened to be near me. " Sir," he said, " these 
unhappy people must certainly belong to the other side of 
the Apennines, since they still make pilgrimages. Fifty 
years ago we used to do the same thing ; we now think it 
better to work ! " 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE MIDDLE CLASSES. 

The middle class is, in every clime and every age, the foun- 
dation of the strength of States. It represents not only the 
wealth and independence, but the capacity and the morality 
of a people. Between the aristocracy, which boasts of doing 
nothing, and the lower orders who only work that they may 
not die of hunger, the middle class advances boldly to a fu- 
ture of wealth and consideration. Sometimes the upper class 
is hostile to progress, through fear of its results ; too often 
the lower class is indifferent to it. from ignorance of the ben- 
efits it confers. The middle class has never ceased to tend 
towards progress, with all its strength, by an irresistible im- 
pulse, and even at the peril of its dearest interests. A great 
statesman who must be judged by his doctrines, and not by the 
chance of circumstances, M. G-uizot, has shown us that the 
Roman Empire perished from the want of a middle class in 
the fifth century of our era, and we ourselves know with 
what impetuosity France has advanced in progress since the 
middle class revolution of 1789. 

The middle class has not only the privilege of bringing 
about useful revolutions, it also claims the honour of repress- 
ing popular outbreaks, and opposing itself as a barrier to the 
overflow, of evil passions. 

It is to be desired, then, that this honourable class should 



THE MIDDLE CLASSES. 45 

become as numerous and as powerful as possible in the coun- 
try we are now studying ; because, while on the one.hand it 
is the lawful heir of the temporal power of the Popes, on the 
other, it is the natural adversary of Mazzinist insurrection. 

But the ecclesiastical caste, which sets this fatal princi- 
ple of temporal power above the highest interests of society, 
can conceive nothing more prudent or efficacious than to vilify 
and abuse the middle class. It obliges this class to support 
the heaviest share of the budget, without being admitted to 
a share in the benefits. It takes from the small proprietor 
not only his whole income, but a part of his capital, while 
the people and the nobility are allowed all sorts of immuni- 
ties. It demands heavy concessions in exchange for the 
humblest official posts. It omits no opportunity of depriv- 
ing the liberal professions of all the importance they enjoy 
in other countries. It does its best to accelerate the decline 
of science and art. It imagines that nothing else can be 
abased, without its being proportionately elevated. 

This system has succeeded (according to priestly notions) 
tolerably well at Rome and in the Mediterranean provinces, 
but very badly at Bologna, and in the Apennine provinces. 
In the metropolis of the country the middle class is reduced, 
impoverished, and submissive ; in the second capital it is 
much more numerous, wealthy, and independent. But evil 
passions, far more fatal to society than the rational resistance 
of parties, have progressed in an inverse direction. They 
predominate but little at Bologna, where the middle class is 
strong enough to keep them under ; they triumph at Borne, 
where the middle class has been destroyed. Thence it fol- 
lows that Bologna is a city of opposition, and Rome a social- 
ist city ; and that the revolution will be moderate at Bologna, 
sanguinary at Rome. This is what the clerical party has 
gained. 



46 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

Nothing can equal the disdain with which the prelates, 
the princes, the foreigners of condition, and even the foot- 
men at Rome, judge the middle class, or mezzo ceto. 

The prelate has his reasons. If he be a minister, he sees 
in his offices some hundred clerks, belonging to the middle 
class. He knows that these active and intelligent, but under- 
paid men, are for the most part obliged to eke out a liveli- 
hood by secretly following some other occupation : one keeps 
the books of a land-steward, another those of a Jew. Whose 
fault is it ? They well know that neither excellence of 
character nor length of service are carried to the credit of 
the civil functionary, and that, after having earned advance- 
ment, he will be obliged either to ask it himself as a favour, 
or to employ the intercession of his wife. It is not these 
poor men whom we should despise, but the dignitaries in 
violet stockings who impose the burden upon them. 

Should Monsignore be a judge of a superior tribunal, of 
the Sacra Rota for instance, he need know nothing about 
the law. His secretary, or assistant, has by dint of patient 
study made himself an accomplished lawyer, as indeed a 
man must be who can thread his way through the dark laby- 
rinths of Roman legislation. But Monsignore, who makes 
use of his assistant's ability for his own particular profit, 
thinks he has a right to despise him, because he is ill paid, 
lives humbly, and has no future to look forward to. Which 
of the two is in the wrong ? 

If the same prelate be a Judge of Appeal, he will pro- 
fess a most profound contempt for advocates. I must con- 
fess they are to be pitied, these unfortunate Princes of the 
Bar, who write for the blind, and speak to the deaf, and 
who wear out their shoes in treading the interminable paths 
of Rotal procedure. But assuredly they are not men to be 
despised. They have always knowledge, often eloquence. 



THE MIDDLE CLASSES. 47 

Marchetti, Rossi, and Lunati might no doubt have written 
good sermons, if they had not preferred doing something 
else. 

Between ourselves, I think the prelates affect to despise 
them, in order that they may not have to fear them. They 
have condemned some of them to exile, others to silence and 
want. Hear what Cardinal Antonelli said to M. de Gra- 
mont : — 

" The advocates used to he one of our sores ; we are be- 
ginning to be cured of it. If we could but get rid of the 
clerks in the offices, all would go well." 

Let us hope that, among modern inventions, a bureau- 
cratic machine may be made by which the labour of men in 
offices may be superseded. 

The Roman princes affect to regard the middle class with 
contempt. The advocate who pleads their causes, and gen- 
erally gains them, belongs to the middle class. The physi- 
cian who attends them, and generally cures them, belongs to 
the middle class. But as these professional men have fixed 
salaries, and as salaries resemble wages, contempt is thrown 
into the bargain. Still the contempt is a magnanimous sort 
of contempt — that of a patron for his client. At Paris? 
when an advocate pleads a prince's cause, it is the prince 
who is the client : at Rome, it is the advocate. 

But the individual who is visited by the most withering 
contempt of the Roman princes is the farmer, or mercante 
di campagna ; and I don't wonder at it. 

The mercante di campagna is an obscure individual, usu- 
ally very honest, very intelligent, very active, and very rich. 
He undertakes to farm several thousand acres of land, pas- 
ture or arable as may be, which the prince would never be 
able to farm himself, because he neither knows how, nor has 
the means to do so. Upon this princely territory the farmer 



48 



THE ROMAN QUESTION. 



lets loose, in the most disrespectful manner, droves of bul- 
locks, and cows, and horses, and flocks of sheep. Should his 
lease permit him, he cultivates a square league or so, and 
sows it with wheat. When harvest-time arrives, down from 
the mountains troop a thousand or twelve hundred peasants, 
who overrun the prince's land in the farmer's service. The 
corn is reaped, threshed in the open field, put into sacks, 
and carted away. The prince sees it go by, as he stands on 
his princely balcony. He learns that a man of the mezzo 
ceto, a man who passes his life on horseback, has harvested 
on his land so many sacks of corn, which have produced 
him so much money. The mercante di carnpagna comes, 
and confirms the intelligence, and then pays the rent agreed 
upon to the uttermost baioccho. Sometimes he even pays 
down a year or two in advance. What prince could forgive 
such aggravated insolence ? It is the more atrocious, since 
the farmer is polite, well-mannered, and much better educat- 
ed than the prince ; he can give his daughters much larger 
fortunes, and could buy the entire principality for his own 
son, if by chance the prince were obliged to sell it. The 
cultivation of estates by means of these people is, in the 
eyes of the Roman princes, an attack upon the rights of prop- 
erty. Their passion for incessant work is a disturbance of 
the delightful Roman tranquillity. The fortunes they ac- 
quire by personal exertion, energy, and activity, are a re- 
proach by inference to that stagnant wealth which is the 
foundation of the State, and the admiration of the G-overn- 
ment 

This is not all : the mercante di campagna, who is not 
nobly born, who is not a priest, who has a wife and children, 
thinks he has a right to share in the management of the 
affairs of his country, upon the ground that he manages his 
own well. He points out abuses ; he demands reforms. 



THE MIDDLE CLASSES. 49 

What audacity ! The priests would cast him forth as they 
would a mere advocate, were it not that his occupation is the 
most necessary of all occupations, and that by turning out a 
man they might starve a district. 

But the insolence of these agricultural contractors goes 
still further. They presume to be grand in their ideas. 
One of them, in 1848, under the reign of Mazzini, when the 
public works were suspended for want of money, finished the 
bridge of Lariccia, one of the finest constructions of our 
time, at his own expense. He certainly knew not whether 
the Pope would ever return to Rome to repay him. He 
acted like a real prince ; but his audacity in assuming a 
part which was not intended for his caste, merited something 
more than contempt. 

I, who have not the honour to be a prince, have no reason 
to despise the mercanii di campagna. Quite the contrary. 
I have solid ones for esteeming them highly. I have found 
them full of intelligence, kindness, and cordiality : middle- 
class men in the best sense of the term. My sole regret is 
that their numbers are so few, and that their scope of action 
is so^limited. 

If there were but two thousand of them, and the Gov- 
ernment allowed them to follow their own course, the Roman 
Campagna would soon assume another aspect, and fever and 
ague take themselves off. 

The foreigners who have inhabited Rome for any length 
of time, speak of the middle-class as contemptuously as the 
princes. I once made the same mistake as they do, so my 
testimony on the subject is the more worthy of acceptation. 

Perhaps the foreigners in question have lived in furnished 
lodgings, and have found the landlady a little less than 
cruel. No doubt adventures of this kind are of daily occur- 
rence elsewhere than in Rome ; but is the middle-class to be 
3 



50 



THE EOMAX QUESTION. 



held responsible for the light conduct of some few poor and 
uneducated women ? 

Or they may have had to do with the trade of Rome, 
and have found it extremely limited. This is because there 
is no capital, nor any extension of public credit. They are 
shocked to see the shopkeepers, during the Carnival, riding 
in carriages, and occupying the best boxes at the theatres ; 
but this foolish love of show, so hurtful to the middle-class, 
is taught them by the universal example of those above 
them. 

Perhaps they have sent to the chemist T s for a doctor, 
and have fallen upon an ignorant professor of the healing 
art. This is unlucky, but it may happen anywhere. The 
medical body is not recruited exclusively among the eagles 
of science. For one Baroni, who is an honour at once to 
Rome, to Italy, and to Europe, you naturally expect to find 
many blockheads. If these are more plentiful at Rome than 
at Paris or Bologna, it is because the priests meddle with 
medical instruction, as with everything else. I never shall 
forget how I laughed when I entered the amphitheatre of 
Santo Spirito, to see a vine-leaf on ' the subject ' on which 
the professor was going to lecture to the students. 

In this land of chastity, where the modest vine is en- 
twined with every branch of science, a doctor in surgery, at- 
tached to an hospital, once told me he had never seen the 
bosom of a woman. " "We have," he said, " two degrees of 
Doctor to take ; one theoretical, the other practical. Be- 
tween the first and the second, we practise in the hospitals, 
as you see. But the prelates who control our studies, will 
not allow a doctor to be present at a confinement until he 
has passed his second, or practical examination. They are 
afraid of our being scandalized. We obtain our practical 
knowledge of midwifery by practising upon clolK In six 



THE MIDDLE CLASSES. 51 

months I shall have taken all my degrees, and I may be 
called in to act as accoucheur to any number of women, 
without ever having witnessed a single accouchement ! " 

The Roman artists would endow the middle-class with 
both fame and money, if they were differently treated. The 
Italian race has not degenerated, whatever its enemies and 
its masters may say : it is as naturally capable of distinction 
in all the arts as ever it was. Put a paint-brush into the 
hands of a child, and he will acquire the practice of painting 
in no time. An apprenticeship of three or four years en- 
ables him to gain a livelihood. The misfortune is, that they 
seldom get beyond this. I think, nay, I am almost sure, 
they are not less richly gifted than the pupils of Raphael ; 
and they reach the same point as the pupils of M. Galimard. 
Is it their fault ? No. I accuse but the medium into which 
their birth has cast them. It may be, that if they were at 
Paris, they would produce masterpieces. Grive them parts 
to play in the world, competition, exhibitions, the support 
of a government, the encouragement of a public, the counsels 
of an enlightened criticism. All these benefits which we 
enjoy abundantly, are wholly denied to them, and are only 
known to them by hearsay. 

Their sole motive for work is hunger, their sole encour- 
agement the flying visits of foreigners. Their work is always 
done in a hurry ; they knock off a copy in a week, and when 
it is sold, they begin another. 

If some one, more ambitious than his fellows, undertakes 
an original work, whose opinion can he obtain as to its merits 
or demerits ? The men of the reignino; class know nothing 
about it, and the princes very little. The owner of the finest 
gallery in Rome said last year, in the salon of an Ambassa- 
dor, i; I admire nothing but what you French call chic.' 1 '' 
Prince Piombino gave the painter Gagliardi an order to paint 



52 THE KOMAN QUESTION". 

him a ceiling, and proposed to pay him by the day. The 
Government has plenty to attend to without encouraging the 
arts : the four little newspapers which circulate at remote 
periods amuse themselves by puffing their particular friends 
in the silliest manner. 

The foreigners who come and go are often men of taste, 
but they do not make a public. In Paris, Munich, Diissel- 
dorf, and London, the public has an individuality ; it is a 
man of a thousand heads. When it has marked a rising 
artist, it notes his progress, encourages him, blames him, 
urges him on, checks him. It takes such a one into its 
favour, is extremely wroth with such another. It is, of 
course, sometimes in the wrong ; it is subject to ridiculous 
infatuations, and unjust revulsions of feeling; yet it lives, 
and it vivifies, and it is worth working for. 

If I wonder at anything, it is that under the present sys- 
tem such artists are to be found at Roine as Tenerani and 
Podesti, in statuary and painting ; Castellani, in gold-work- 
ing ; Calamatta and Mercuri, in engraving, with some others. 
It is a melancholy truth, however, that the majority of Ro- 
man artists are doomed, by the absence of encouragement, to 
a monotonous and humiliating round of taskwork and trade ; 
occupied half their time in re-copying copies, and the re- 
mainder in recommending their goods to the foreign purchaser. 

In truth, I had myself quitted Koine with no very favour- 
able idea of the middle class. A few distinguished artists, a 
few advocates of talent and courage, some able medical men, 
some wealthy and skilful farmers, were insufficient, in my 
opinion, to constitute a middle class. I regarded them as so 
many exceptions to a rule. And as it is certain that there 
can be no nation without a middle class, I dreaded lest I 
should be forced to admit that there is no Italian nation. 

The middle class appeared to me to thrive no better in 



THE MIDDLE CLASSES. 53 

the Mediterranean provinces than at Rome. Half citizen, 
half clown, the people representing it are plunged in a crass 
ignorance. Haying just sufficient means to live without 
working, they lounge away their time in homes comfortless 
and half-furnished, the very walls of which seem to reek with 
ennui. Rumours of what is passing in Europe, which might 
possibly rouse them from their torpor, are stopped at the 
frontier. New ideas, which might somewhat fertilize their 
minds, are intercepted by the Custom House. If they read 
anything, it is the Almanack, or by way of a higher order of 
literature, the Giornale di Roma, wherein the daily rides of 
the Pope are pompously chronicled. The existence of these 
people consists, in short, of a round of eating, drinking, sleep- 
ing, and reproducing their kind, until death arrive. 

But beyond the Apennines matters are far otherwise. 
There, instead of the citizen descending to the level of the 
peasant, it is the peasant who rises to that of the citizen. 
Unremitting labour is continually improving both the soil 
and man. A smuggling of ideas which daily becomes more 
active, sets custom-houses and customs officers at defiance. 
Patriotism is stimulated and kept alive by the presence of 
the Austrians. Common sense is outraged by the weight of 
taxation. The different fractions of the middle class — advo- 
cates, physicians, merchants, farmers, artists — freely express 
among one another their discontent and their hatred, their 
ideas and their hopes. The Apennines, which form a barrier 
between them and the Pope, bring them nearer to Europe 
and liberty. I have never failed, after conversing with one 
of the middle class in the Legations, to inscribe in my tab- 
lets, There is an Italian Nation ! 

I travelled from Bologna to Florence with a young man 
whom I at first took, from the simple elegance of his dress, 
for an Englishman. But we fell so naturally into conversa- 



54 THE EOMAN QUESTION". 

tion, and my companion expressed himself so fluently in 
French, that I supposed him to be a fellow-countryman. 
When, however, I discovered how thoroughly he was versed 
in the state of the agriculture, manufactures, commerce, laws, 
the administration, and the politics of Italy, I could no longer 
doubt that he was an Italian and a Bolognese. What I 
chiefly admired in him was not so much the extent and va- 
riety of his knowledge, or the clearness and rectitude of his 
understanding, as the elevation of his character, and the mod- 
eration of his language. Every word he uttered was charac- 
terized by a profound sense of the dignity of his country, a 
bitter regret at the dises teem and neglect into which that 
country had fallen, and a firm hope in the justice of Europe 
in general and of one great prince in particular, and a certain 
combination of pride, melancholy, and sweetness which pos- 
sessed an irresistible attraction for me. He nourished no 
hatred either against the Pope or any other person ; he ad- 
mitted the system of the priests, although utterly intolerable 
to the country, to be perfectly logical in itself. His dream 
was not of vengeance, but deliverance. 

I learnt, some time afterwards, that my delightful travel- 
ling companion was a man of the mezzo ceto, and that there 
are many more such as he in Bologna. 

But already had I inscribed in my tablets these words, 
thrice repeated, dated from the Court of the Posts, Piazza 
del Gran' Duca, Florence : — ■ 

" There is an Italian Nation ! There is an Italian 
Nation ! There is an Italian Nation ! " 



CHAPTER, VIL 

THE NOBILITF. 

An Italian has said with pungent irony, " Who knows but 
that one of these days a powerful microscope may detect 
globules of nobility in the blood ? " 

I am too national not to applaud a good joke, and yet I 
must confess these " globules of nobility " do not positively 
offend my reason. 

There is no doubt that sons take after their fathers. 
The Barons of the Middle Ages transmitted to their children 
a heritage of heroic qualities. Frederick the Great obtained 
a race of gigantic grenadiers by marrying men of six feet to 
women of five feet six. The children of a clever man are 
not fools, provided their mother has not failed in her duties ; 
and when the Crétins of the Alps intermarry, they produce 
Crétins. We know dogs are slow or fast, keen-scented or 
keen-sighted, according to their breed, and we buy a two- 
year-old colt upon the strength of his pedigree. Can we 
consistently admit nobility among horses and dogs, and deny 
it among men ? 

Add to this, that the pride of bearing an illustrious name 
is a powerful incentive to well-doing. Noblemen have duties 
to fulfil both towards their ancestors and their posterity. 
They must walk uprightly under the penalty of dishonouring 
an entire race. Tradition obliges them to follow a path of 



56 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

honour and virtue, from which they cannot stray a single 
step without falling. They never sign their names without 
some elevated thought of an hereditary obligation. 

I must admit that everything degenerates in the end, 
and that the purest blood may occasionally lose its high 
qualities, as the most generous wine turns to molasses or 
vinegar. But we have all of us met in the world a young 
man of loftier and prouder bearing, more high-minded and 
more courageous, than his fellows ; or a woman so beautiful 
and simple and chaste, that she seemed made of a finer clay 
than the rest of her sex. We may be sure that both one 
and the other have in their blood some globules of nobility. 

These precious globules, which no microscope will ever 
be powerful enough to detect, but which the intelligent 
observer sees with the naked eye, are rare enough in Europe, 
and I am not aware of their existence out of it. A small 
collection of them might bs brought together in France, in 
Spain, in England, in Russia, iu Germany, in Italy. Rome 
is one of the cities in which the fewest would be found. 
And yet the Roman nobility is surrounded with a certain 
prestige. 

Thirty-one princes or dukes ; a great number of mar- 
quises, counts, barons, and knights; a multitude of noble 
families without titles, sixty of whom were inscribed in the 
Capitol by Benedict XIV. ; a vast extent of signiorial 
domains; a thousand palaces; a hundred picture-galleries 
large and small ; a considerable revenue ; a prodigal display 
of horses, carriages, servants, and armorial bearings ; some 
almost royal entertainments in the course of every winter ; 
the remains of feudal privileges ; and the respect of the lower 
orders : such are the more remarkable features which dis. 
tinguish the Roman nobility, and expose it to the admi- 
ration of all the travelling cockneys of the universe. 



THE NOBILITY. 57 

Ignorance, idleness, vanity, servility, and above all in- 
capacity ; these are the pet vices which place it below all 
the aristocracies in Europe. Should I meet with any ex- 
ceptions on my road, I shall consider it my duty to point 
them out. 

The roots of the Roman nobility are very diverse. The 
Orsini and the Colonna families descend from the heroes or 
brigands of the Middle Ages. That of Caetani dates from 
730. The houses of Massimo, Santa-Croce, and Muti, go 
back to Livy in search of their founders. Prince Massimo 
bears in his shield the trace of the marchings and counter- 
marchings of Fabius Maximus, otherwise called Cunctator. 
His motto is, Cunctando restituit. Santa-Croce boasts of 
being an offshoot of Valerius Publicola. The Muti family 
counts Mutius Scsevola among its ancestors. This nobility, 
whether authentic or not, is at all events very ancient, and 
is of independent origin. It has not been hatched under the 
robes of the Popes. 

The second category is of Pontifical origin. Its titles 
and fortune^ have their origin in nepotism. In the course 
of the seventeenth century, Paul V., Urban VIIL, Innocent 
X., Alexander VIL, Clement IX^ and Innocent XL created 
the houses of Borghese, Barberini, Pamphili, Chigi, Bos- 
pigliosi, and Odescalchi. They vied with one another in 
aggrandising their humble families. The domains of the 
Borghese house, which make a tolerably large spot on the 
map of Europe, testify that Paul V. was by no means an 
unnatural uncle. The Popes have kept up the practice of 
ennobling their relations, but the scandal of their liberali- 
ties ceases with Pius VI., another of the Braschi family 
(1775-1800). 

The last batch includes the bankers, such as Torlonia 
and Buspoli, monopolists like Antonelli, millers like the 
3* 



58 



THE BOM AX QUESTION. 



Macchi, bakers like the Dukes Grazioli, tobacconists like 
the Marchese Ferraiuoli, and farmers like the Marchese 
Calabrini. 

I add, by way of memorandum, strangers, noble or not, 
as may be, who purchase an estate, get a title thrown into 
the bargain. A short time ago a French petty country 
gentleman, who had a little money, woke up a Roman Prince 
one fine morning, the equal of the Dorias, Torlonias, and of 
the baker Duke G-razioli. 

For they are all equal from the hour when the Holy 
Father has signed their parchments. Whatever be the 
origin of their nobility and the antiquity of their houses, 
they go arm in arm, without any disputes as to precedence. 
The names of Orsini, Colonna, and Sforza, are jumbled 
together in the family of a former domestique de place. The 
son of a baker marries the daughter of a Lante de La Rovère, 
granddaughter of a Prince Colonna, and a Princess of Savoie- 
Carignan. There is no fear that the famous quarrel of the 
princes and dukes, which so roused the indignation of our 
stately St. Simon, will ever be repeated among the Koman 
aristocracy. 

To what purpose should it be, gracious Heavens ! Don't 
they well know — dukes and princes — that they are all alike 
inferior to the shabbiest of the cardinals ? The day that a 
Capuchin receives the red hat, he acquires the right to 
splash the mud in their faces as he rides past in his gilded 
coach. 

In all monarchical States, the king is the natural head 
of the nobility. The strongest term that a gentleman can 
make use of, in alluding to his house, is that it is as noble 
as the King. As noble as the Pope would be simply lu- 
dicrous, since a swineherd, the son of a swineherd, may be 
elected Pope, and receive the oath of fidelity from all the 



THE XOBIIJTT. 59 

Roman princes. They may well then consider themselves 
upon an equality among themselves, these poor grandees, 
seeing that they are equally looked down upon by a few 
priests. 

They console themselves with the thought that they are 
superior to all the laymen in the world. " This soothing 
vanity, neither noisy nor insolent, but none the less firmly 
rooted in their hearts, enables them to swallow the daily 
affront of conscious inferiority. 

I am quite aware of the points in which they are inferior 
to the upstarts of the Church, but their affected superiority 
to other men is less evident to me. 

As to their courage. Some years have elapsed since 
they had the opportunity of proving it on the field of battle.* 

* A few of them did good service in the cause of liberty, and deserved 
well of their country, in the glorious but unsuccessful struggle of 1848, 
soon about to be renewed, and, let us hope, under happier auspices, and 
with a very different result. 

Duke Filippo Lante Montefeltro, Colonel in command of a corps 
<T armée, of the Roman Volunteers, occupied and held Treviso, whereby 
he at once assured the retreat of the Roman army, after its defeat at 
Cornuda on the 9th of May, 1848, by General Xugent, and prevented 
the advance of the Austrians upon Venice. The President Manin ac- 
knowledged that by his courage and patriotism he had saved Venice, 
and immediately sent him the commission of a full General. On the 
16th of May, General Xugent arrived before Treviso with 16,000 men, 
and siege artillery. He at once summoned the place to surrender, giving 
General Lante till noon on the following day for consideration. At four 
the same evening, Lante sent for reply, " Come this evening. I shall 
expect you at six. TVe are here to fight, not to surrender ! " After 
threatening the town for some days, Xugent reared from before it, and 
joined Radetzky. 

Duke Bonelli, Captain of Dragoons, was Orderly Officer to General 
Durando at the capitulation of Vicenza. 

Prince Bartolomeo Ruspoli served as a private soldier in the Roman 



60 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

Heaven forbids duelling. The Government inculcates the 
gentler virtues. 

They are not wanting in a certain ostentatious and the- 
atrical liberality. A Piombino sent his ambassador to the 
conference at Vienna, allowing £4,000 for the expenses of 
the mission. A Borghese gave the mob of Rome a banquet 
that cost £48,000, to celebrate the return of Pius VII. Al- 
most all the Roman princes open their palaces, villas, and 
galleries to the public. To be sure, old Scia/ra used to sell 
permission to copy his pictures, but he was a notorious miser, 
and has found no imitators. 

They practise generally the virtue of charity, in a some- 
what indiscriminate manner, from the love of patronage, 
from pride, habit, and weakness, because they are ashamed 
to refuse. They are by no means badly disposed, they are 
good — I stop at this word, lest I should go too far. 

They are not wanting in sense or intelligence. Prince 
Massimo is quoted for his good sense, and the two Caetani 
for their puns. Santa- Croce, though a little cracked, is no 
ordinary man. But what a wretched education the Gov- 

Legion ; he was one of the three Commissioners who were sent to the 
camp of Radetzky to treat for the capitulation of Vicenza. 

Count Antonio Marescotti commanded the 1st Roman regiment of 
Grenadiers. 

Count Bandini, son of a Princess Giustiniani, was also Orderly Officer 
to Durando. 

Count Pianciani commanded the 3d regiment of Roman Volunteers. 

Don Ludovico Lante (a younger hrother of Filippo) was Captain in 
the 1st regiment of Roman Volunteers. 

Adriano Borgia quitted the Pope's Guardia Nobile for a Colonelcy 
of Dragoons, in the service of the Roman Repuhlic : he was an excellent 
officer. 

Marquis Steffanoni commanded a company of young students. — 
Teansl. 



rzz inohlity. ôl 

emmeii: _ pw« khan ! When they are not the children, they 
are the pupils of priests, whose system principally eons: :- 
in teaching them nothing. Get hold of a stndent of St. 
Sulpice. wash him tolerahly clean, have him dressed by 
Alfred or Poole, and bejewelled by -:rllani or Hnnt and 
Boskd, let him learn to thrnm a guitar, and sit npon a 
horse, and you'll have a Koman prince as good as the best 
of :'_r— . 

Y m probably think it natural that people brought up at 
Kome. in the midst of the finest works of art in the world, 
should take a little interest in art, and know something about 
it. Pray be undeceived. This man has never entered the 
Vatican ex: r : fcc pay " :j::s: that onekn;— ~ nothing f his 
own gallery, but through the report of his house-steward. 
Another had never visited the Catacombs till he became 
Pope. They bto&sb un elegant ignorance, which they think 
in «rood taste, and which will alwavs be fashionable in a 

:nolic country. 

I have said enough about the heart, mind, and education 
of the Roman nobility. A few words as to the fortunes : 
which they dispose, 

I have before me a list which I believe to be authentic, 
■si ::pied it myself in a sure quarter. It comprises the 
net available incomes of the principal Eoman families. I 
sctnet the most important : — 

rami £. 

B:rghese 18,000 

Ludovisi 14.000 

Grazioli 14.000 

Doria I 

E:spigliosi 10. 000 

Colonna v . 



62 THE ROMAN QUESTION. ' 

Odescalchi 8,000 

Massimo 8,000 

Patrizi 6,000 

Orsini 4,000 

Strozzi 4,000 

Torlonia . Unlimited. 

Antonelli Ditto. 

It is not to be supposed that Grazioli, for instance, has 
himself alone nearly as large a gross income as Prince 
Borghese and his two brothers Aldobrandini and Salviati 
together. But the fact is that all the more ancient families 
are burdened with heavy hereditary charges, which enor- 
mously reduce their incomes. They are obliged to keep up 
chapels, churches, hospitals, and whole chapters of fat canons, 
while the nobles of yesterday are not called upon to pay for 
either the fame or the sins of their ancestors. 

At all events the foregoing list proves the mediocrity as 
to wealth, as in everything else, of the Roman nobility. Not 
only are they unable to compete with the hard-working 
middle classes of London, Bale, or Amsterdam, but they are 
infinitely less wealthy than the nobility of Russia or of Eng- 
land. 

Is this because, as with us in France, an equitable law is 
constantly subdividing large properties ? No. The law of 
primogeniture is in full vigour in the kingdom of the Pope, 
like every other abuse of the good old times. They provide 
for their younger sons as they can, and for their daughters 
as they please. It is not parental justice that ruins families. 
I have even heard it said that the elder brother is not obliged 
to put on mourning when the younger dies ; which is a clear 
saving of so much black cloth. 

This being the case, why are not the Roman princes 



THE NOBILITY. 63 

richer than they are ? It is to be accounted for by two 
excellent reasons, — the love of show, and bad management. 

Ostentation, the Roman disease, requires that every 
nobleman should have a palace in the city, and a palace 
in the country : carriages, horses, lacqueys and liveries. 
They can do without mattresses, linen, and armchairs, but a 
gallery of pictures is indispensable. It is not thought ne- 
cessary to have a decent dinner every Sunday, but it is to 
have a terraced garden for the admiration of foreigners. 
These imaginary wants swallow up the income, and not un- 
frequently eat into the capital. 

And yet I could point out half-a-dozen estates which 
could suffice for the prodigalities of a sovereign, if they were 
managed in the English, or even in the French fashion, — if 
the owner were to interfere personally, and see with his own 
eyes, instead of allowing a host of middlemen to come be- 
tween him and his property, who of course enrich themselves 
at his expense. 

Not that the Roman princes knowingly allow their affairs 
to go to ruin. They must by no means be confounded with 
the grands seigneurs of old France, who laughed over the 
wreck of their fortunes, and avenged themselves upon a 
steward by a bon mot and a kick. The Roman prince has 
an office, with shelves, desks, and clerks, and devotes some 
hours a day to business, examining accounts, poring over 
parchments, and signing papers. But being at once incapa- 
ble and uneducated, his zeal serves but to liberate the rogues 
about him from responsibility. I heard of a nobleman who 
had inherited an enormous fortune, who condemned himself 
to the labor of a clerk at £50 a year, who remained faithful 
to his desk even to extreme old age, and who, thanks to some 
blunder or other in management, died insolvent. 

Pity them if you please, but cast not the stone at them. 



64 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

They are such as education has made them. Look at those 
brats of various ages from six to ten, walking along the 
Corso in double file, between a couple of Jesuits. They are 
embryo Roman nobles. Handsome as little Cupids, in spite 
of their black coats and white neckcloths, they will all grow 
up alike, under the shadow of their pedagogue's broad- 
brimmed hat. 

Already are their minds like a well-raked garden, from 
which ideas have been carefully rooted out. Their hearts 
are purged alike of good and evil passions. Poor little 
wretches, they will not even have any vices. 

As soon as they shall have passed their last examina- 
tions, and obtained their diplomas of ignorance, they will 
be dressed in the latest London fashions, and be turned out 
into the public promenades. They will pace for ever the 
pavement of the Corso, they will wear out the alleys of the 
Pincian Hill, the Villa Borghese, and the Villa Pamphili. 
They will ride, drive, and walk about, armed with a whip, 
eye-glass, or cane, as may be, until they are made to marry. 
Regular at Mass, assiduous at the theatre, you may see them 
smile, gape, applaud, make the sign of the cross, with an 
equal absence of emotion. They are almost all inscribed on 
the list of some religious fraternity or other. They belong 
to no club, play timidly, rarely make a parade of social irreg- 
ularities, drink without enthusiasm, and never ruin them- 
selves by horse-racing. In short, their general conduct is 
beyond all praise ; and the life of dolls made to say " Papa ! " 
and " Mama !" is equally irreproachable. 

One fine day they attain their twenty-fifth year. At this 
age, an American has already tried his hand at a dozen 
trades, made four fortunes, and at least one bankruptcy, has 
gone through a couple of campaigns, had a lawsuit, estab- 
lished a new religious sect, killed half-a-dozen men with his 



THE NOBILITY. 65 

revolver, freed a negress, and conquered an island. An 
Englishman has passed some stiff examinations, been attach- 
ed to an embassy, founded a factory, converted a Catholic, 
o-one round the world, and read the complete works of Walter 
Scott. A Frenchman has rhymed a tragedy, written for two 
newspapers, been wounded in three duels, twice attempted 
suicide, vexed fourteen husbands, and changed his politics 
nineteen times. A G-erman has slashed fifteen of his dearest 
friends, swallowed sixty hogsheads of beer and the Philoso- 
phy of Hegel, sung eleven thousand couplets, compromised 
a tavern waiting-maid, smoked a million of pipes, and been 
mixed up with, at least, two revolutions. 

The Eoman prince has done nothing, seen nothing, learnt 
nothing, loved nothing, suffered nothing. His parents or 
guardians open a cloister gate, take out a young girl as inex- 
perienced as himself, and the pair of innocents are bidden 
to kneel before a priest, who gives them permission to be- 
come parents of another generation of innocents like them- 
selves. 

Probably you expect to find them living unhappily to- 
gether. Not at all. And yet the wife is pretty. The 
monotonous routine of her convent education has not so 
frozen her heart that she is incapable of loving ; her uncul- 
tivated mind will spontaneously develope itself when it comes 
in contact with the world. She will not fail, ere long, to 
discover the inferiority of her husband. The more her edu- 
cation has been neglected, the greater is her chance of re- 
maining womanly, that is to say, intelligent, tender, and 
charming. In truth, the harmony of their household is less 
likely to be disturbed at Ronie than it would be at Paris or 
Vienna. 

Yes, the huge extinguisher which Heaven holds suspend- 
ed over the city of Konie, stifles even the subtle spark of 



66 THE EOMÀN QUESTION. 

passion. If Vesuvius were here, it would have been cold for 
the last forty years. The Roman princesses were not a little 
talked of up to the end of the thirteenth century. Under 
the French rule their gallantry assumed a military com- 
plexion. They used to go and see their admirers play bil- 
liards at the Cafe Nuovo. But hypocrisy and morality have 
made immense progress since the restoration. The few who 
have afforded matter for the scandalous chronicles of Rome 
are sexagenarians, and their adventures are inscribed on the 
tablets of history, between Austerlitz and Waterloo. 

The young princess whom we have just seen entering 
upon her married life, will begin by presenting her husband 
with sundry little princes and princesses ; and there is no 
rampart against illicit affection like your row of little 
cradles. 

In five or six years, when she might have leisure for evil 
thoughts, she will be bound hand and foot by the exigencies 
of society. You shall have a specimen of the mode in which 
she spends her days during the winter season. Her morning 
is devoted to dressing, breakfasting, her children, and her 
husband. From one to three she returns the visits she has 
received, in the exact form in which they were paid to her. 
The first act of politeness is to go and see your acquaintance ; 
the second, to leave your card in person ; the third, to send 
the same bit of pasteboard by a servant ad hoc. At three, 
all the world drives to the Villa Borghese, where there is a 
general salutation of acquaintances with the tips of the fin- 
gers. At four, up the Pincio. At five, it files backwards 
and forwards along the Corso. Everybody who is anybody 
is condemned to this triple promenade. If a single woman 
— who is anybody — were to absent herself, it would be in- 
ferred, as a matter of course, that she was ill, and a general 
inquiry as to the nature of her complaint would be instituted. 



THE NOBILITY. 67 

At close of day all go home. After dinner another toilette, 
and out for the evening. Every house has its particular re- 
ception-night. And a pure and simple reception indeed it 
is, without play, without music, without conversation; a 
mere interchange of hows and curtsies, and cold common- 
places. At rare intervals a ball breaks the ice, and shakes 
off the ennui generated by this system. Poor women ! In 
an existence at once so busy and so void, there is not even 
room for friendship. Two who may have been friends from 
childhood, brought up in the same convent, married into the 
same world, may meet one another daily and at all hours, 
and yet may not be able to enjoy ten minutes of intimate 
conversation in the whole year. The brightest, the best, is 
known but by her name, her title, and her fortune. Judg- 
ments are passed on her beauty, her toilet, and her diamonds, 
but nobody has the opportunity or the leisure to penetrate 
into the depths of her mind. A really distinguished woman 
once said to me, " I feel that I become stupid when I enter 
these drawing-rooms. Vacancy seizes me at the very 
threshold." Another, who had lived in France, regretted, 
with tears, the absence of those charming friendships, so 
cheerful and so cordial, that exist between the young married 
women of Paris. 

When the Carnival arrives, it mingles everything without 
uniting anything. In truth, one is never more solitary than 
in the midst of noise and crowds. Then comes Lent; and 
then the grand comedy of Easter ; and after that the family 
departs for the country, which means, economizing for some 
months in a huge half- furnished mansion. In short, the ro- 
mance of a Roman Princess is made up of a certain number 
of noisy winters, and dull summers, and plenty of children. 
If there be, by chance, any more exciting chapters, they are 
doubtless known to the confessor. 

" Ce ne sont pas là mes affaires." 



68 



THE ROMAN QUESTION. 



You must go far from Eome to find any real nobility. 
Here and there in the Mediterranean provinces some fallen 
family may be met with, living poorly upon the produce of 
a small estate, and still looked up to with a certain respect 
by its wealthier neighbours. The lower orders respect it 
because it has been something once, and even because it is 
nothing under the present hated government. These little 
provincial aristocrats, ignorant, simple, and proud, are a sort 
of relic of the Middle Ages left behind in the middle of the 
nineteenth century. I only mention them to recall the fact 
of their existence. 

But if you will accompany me over the Apennines, into 
the glorious cities of the Romagna, I can show you more 
than one nobleman of great name and ancient lineage, who 
cultivates at once his lands and his intellect ; who knows all 
that we know ; who believes all that we believe, and nothing 
more ; who takes an active interest in the misfortunes of 
Italy, and who, looking to free and happy Europe, hopes, 
through the sympathy of nations and the justice of sove- 
reigns, to obtain the deliverance of his country. I met in 
certain palaces at Bologna a brilliant writer, applauded on 
every stage in Italy; a learned economist, quoted in the 
most serious reviews throughout Europe ; a controversialist, 
dreaded by the priests ; and all these individualities united 
in the single person of a Marquis of thirty-four, who may, 
perhaps, one of these days play an important part in the Ital- 
ian revolution. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FOREIGNEBS. 

Permit me to open this chapter by recalling sume recollections 
of the golden age. 

A century or two ago, when old aristocracies, old royal- 
ties, and old religions imagined themselves eternal ; when 
Popes innocently assured the fortunes of their nephews, and 
the welfare of their mistresses ; when the simplicity of Cath- 
olic countries regilt annually the pontifical idol ; when Europe 
contained some half-million of individuals who deemed them- 
selves created for mutual understanding and amusement, 
without any thought of the classes beneath them, Rome was 
the Paradise of foreigners, and foreigners were the Providence 
of Rome. 

A gentleman of "birth took it into his head to visit Italy, 
for the sake of kissing the Pope's toe, and perhaps other lo- 
cal curiosities. He managed to have a couple of years of 
leisure, — put three letters of introduction into one pocket, 
and 50,000 crowns into the other, and stepped into his 
travelling carriage. 

In those days people did not go to Rome to spend a week 
there and away again ; for it was a month or two's journey 
from France. The crack of the postilions' whips used to an- 
nounce to the Eternal City in general the arrival of a distin- 
guished guest. Domestiques de place flocked to the call. 
The luckiest of them took possession of the new comer by 



70 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

entering his service. In a few days he provided his master 
with a palace, furniture, footmen, carriages, and horses. The 
foreigner settled himself comfortably, and then presented his 
letters of introduction. His credentials being examined, the 
best society at once oppened its arms to him, and cried. 
" You are one of us ! " From that moment he was at home 
wherever he went. He was a guest at every house. He 
danced, supped, played, and made love to the ladies. And 
of course, in his turn, he opened his own palace to his liberal 
entertainers, adding a new feature to the brilliancy of a Ro- 
man winter. 

No foreigner failed to carry away with him some recollec- 
tion of a city so fertile in marvels. One bought pictures, 
another ancient marbles, this one medals, that one books. 
The trade of Rome prospered by this circulation of foreign 
money. 

The heats of summer drove away foreigners as well as 
natives ; but they never went far. Naples, Florence, or 
Venice offered them agreeable quarters till the return of the 
winter season. And they had excellent reasons for returning 
to Rome, which is the only city in the world in which one 
has never seen everything. Some of them so entirely forgot 
their own countries, that death overtook them between the 
Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza de Yenizia. If any exiled 
themselves to their native land, they did it in sheer self- 
defence, when their pockets were empty. Rome bade them 
a tender adieu, piously keeping their likeness in its memory 
and their money in its coffers. 

The Revolution of 1793 somewhat disturbed this agreea- 
ble order of things ; but it was a mere storm between two fine 
summer days. Neither the Roman aristocracy, nor its con- 
stant troop of guests, took this brutal overthrow of their ele- 
gant pleasures in earnest. The exile of the Pope, the French 



FOREIGNERS. 71 

occupation, and many similar accidents, were supported with 
a noble resignation, and forgotten with the readiness of good 
taste. 1815 passed a sponge over some years of very foul 
history. All the inscriptions which recalled the glory or the 
beneficence of France were conscientiously erased. It was 
even proposed to do away with the lighting of the streets, not 
only because they threw too strong a light upon certain 
nocturnal matters, but because they dated from the time of 
Miollis and De Tournon. Even now, in 1859, the fleur-de-lis 
points out what is French property. A marble table in the 
church of San Luigi dei Francesi promises indulgence to 
those who will pray for the king of France. The French 
convent of the Trinità dei Monti — that worthy claustral 
establishment which sold us the picture of Daniel di Volterra 
and then took it back — possesses the portraits of all the kings 
of France, from Pharamond to Charles X. There you see 
Louis XVII. between Louis XYI. and Louis XVIII. ; but 
in this historical gallery there is no more mention of Na- 
poleon or of Louis-Philippe, than of Nana-Sahib or Marat. 

A city so respectful to the past, so faithful to the worship 
of bygone recollections, is the natural asylum of sovereigns 
fallen from their thrones. It is to Rome that they come to 
foment their contusions, and to heal the wounds of their pride. 
They live there agreeably, surrounded by the few followers 
who have remained faithful to them. A miniature court, 
assembled in their antechamber, crowns them in private, 
hails them on rising with epithets of royalty, and pours forth 
incense in their dressing-room. The Roman nobility, and 
foreigners of distinction, live with them in au unequal inti- 
macy, humbling themselves in order that they may be raised ; 
and sowing a great deal of veneration to reap a very light 
crop of familiarity. The Pope and his Cardinals, upon prin- 
ciple, are lavish of attentions which they would perhaps re- 



72 THE KOilAN QUESTION. 

fuse them on the throne. In short, the king who has been 
the most battered and shaken by his fall, and the most ill- 
used by his ungrateful subjects, has but to take refuge in 
Rome, and by the double aid of a vivid imagination and a 
\vell-filled purse, he may persuade himself that he is still 
reigning over an absent people. 

The reverses of royalty which ended the eighteenth and 
commenced the nineteenth centuries, sent to Rome a colony 
of crowned heads. The : modifications which European socie- 
ty has undergone have more recently brought many less 
illustrious guests, not even members of the aristocracy of 
their own country. It is certain that for the last fifty years, 
wealth, education, and talent have shared the rights formerly 
belonging to birth alone. Rome has seen foreigners arriving 
in travelling carriages who were not born great, — distinguish- 
ed artists, eminent writers, diplomatists sprung from the peo- 
ple, tradesmen elevated to the rank of capitalists, men of the 
world who are in their place everywhere, because everywhere 
they know how to live. The best society did not receive 
them without submitting them to careful inquiry, in order to 
ascertain that they brought no dangerous doctrines ; and then 
it seemed to say to them : " You cannot be our relations — 
be our masonic brothers ! " 

I have said that the Roman princes are, if not without, 
pride, at least without arrogance. This observation extends 
to the princes of the Church. They welcome a foreigner of 
modest condition, provided he speaks and thinks like them- 
selves upon two or three capital questions, has a profound 
veneration for certain time-honoured lumber, and curses 
heartly certain innovations. You must show them the 
white paw of the fable, if you wish them to open their doors 
to you. 

On this point they are immovable. They will not listen 



FOREIGNERS. 73 

to rank, to fortune, or even to the most imperious political 
necessities. If France were to send them an ambassador 
who failed to show them the white paw, the ambassador of 
France would not get inside the doors of the aristocratic 
salons. If Horace Yernet were named director of the 
Academy, neither his name nor his office would open to him 
certain houses where he was received as a friend previously 
to 1830. And why ? Because Horace Yernet was one of 
the public men of the Revolution of July. 

Do not imagine, however, that paying respect to Cardi- 
nals involves paying respect to religion, or that it is neces- 
sary to attend Mass in order to get invited to balls. What 
is absolutely indispensable is, to believe that everything at 
Rome is good, to regard the Papacy as an arch, the Cardi- 
nals as so many saints, abuses as principles, and to applaud 
the march of the Government, even though it stand still. It 
is considered good taste to praise the virtues of the lower 
orders, their simple faith, and their indifference as to political 
affairs, and to despise that middle-class which is destined to 
brins; about the next revolution. 

I conversed much with some of the foreigners who live 
in Rome, and who mix with its best society. One of the 
most distinguished and the most agreeable of them often 
gave me advice which, though I have not followed, I have 
not forgotten. 

" My dear friend," he used to say, " I know but two ways 
of writing about Rome. You must choose for yourself. If 
you declaim against the priestly government, its abuses, vi- 
ces, and injustice ; against the assassinations, the unculti- 
vated lands, the bad air, the filthiness of the streets; against 
the many scandals, the hypocrisies, the robberies, the lot- 
teries, the Ghetto, and all that follows as a matter of course, 
you will earn the somewhat barren honour of having added 
4 



74 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

the thousand and first pamphlet to those which have ap- 
peared since the time of Luther. All has been said that can 
he said against the Popes. A man who pretends to original- 
ity should not lend his voice to the chorus of brawling re- 
formers. Remember, too, that the Government of this 
country, though very mild and very paternal, never forgives ! 
Even if it wished to do so, it cannot. It must defend its 
principle, which is sacred. Don't close the gates of Rome 
against yourself. You will be so glad to revisit it, and we 
shall be so happy to receive you again ! If you wish to sup- 
port a new and original theme, and to gain fame which will 
not be wholly unprofitable, dare to declare boldly that eve- 
rything is good — even that which all agree to pronounce bad. 
Praise without restriction an order of things which has been 
solidly maintained for eighteen centuries. Prove that eve- 
rything here is firmly established, and that the network of 
pontifical institutions is linked together by a powerful logic. 
Bravely resist those aspirations after reform which may 
haply urge you to demand such and such changes. Remem- 
ber that you cannot disturb old constitutions with impunity ; 
that the displacement of a single stone may bring down the 
whole edifice. How do you know, that the particular abuse 
which most offends you is not absolutely necessary to the 
very existence of Rome ? Good and evil mixed together 
form a cement more durable than the elaborately selected 
materials of which modern Utopias are made. I who tell 
you this have been here many years, and am quite comfort- 
able and contented. Whither should I go if Rome were to 
be turned topsy-turvy ? Where should we establish our de- 
throned sovereigns ? Where would a home be found for 
Roman Catholic worship ? You have no doubt been told 
that some people are dissatisfied with the administration : 
but what of that ? They are not of our world. You never 



FOEEIGNEES. 75 

meet them in the good society you frequent. If the demands 
of the middle class were to be complied with, everything 
would be overturned. Have you any wish to see manufac- 
tories erected round St. Peter's and turnipfields about the 
fountain of Egeria ? These native shopkeepers seem to im- 
agine the country belongs to them because they happen to 
be born in it. Can one conceive a more ridiculous preten- 
sion ? Let them know that Kome is the property in copart- 
nership of people of birth, of people of taste, and of artists. 
It is a museum confided to the guardianship of the Holy 
Father ; a museum of old monuments, old pictures, and old 
institutions. Let all the rest of the world change, but 
build me a Chinese wall round the Papal States, and never 
let the sound of the railway-whistle be heard within its sa- 
cred precincts ! Let us preserve for admiring posterity at 
least one magnificent specimen of absolute power, ancient art, 
and the Roman Catholic religion ! " 

This is the language of foreign inhabitants of' Rome of 
the old stamp, — estimable people, and sincere believers, who 
have gone on year after year witnessing the ceremonies of 
St. Peter's, and the Fete des Oignons in the St. John Late- 
ran, till they have acquired an ecclesiastical turn of thought 
and expression, a habit of seeing things through the specta- 
cles of the Sacred College, and a faith which has no sympa- 
thy with the outer world. I do not share their opinions, and 
I have never found their advice particularly useful ; but 
they interest me, I like them, and I sincerely pity them. 
Who can tell what events they are destined to witness in 
their time ? Who can foresee the spectacles which the fu- 
ture reserves for them, and the changes that their habits 
will be made to undergo by the Italian revolution ? Al- 
ready their hearing is distracted by the locomotives that 
rush between Rome and Frascati ; already the shriek of the 



76 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

steam-blast daily and nightly hisses insolently at the respect- 
able comedy of the past between Rome and Civita Yecchia. 
Steamboats, another engine of disorder, furnish the bi-weekly 
means of an invasion of the most dangerous character. 
Those dozens of travellers who throng the streets and the 
squares are about as much like our good old foreign tourists, 
as the barbarians of Attila were like the worthy Spaniard 
who came to Rome on purpose to see Titus Livius. 

Examine them carefully; they are of every possible con- 
dition ; for now that travelling costs next to nothing, every- 
body is able to afford himself a sight of Rome. Briefless 
barristers, physicians without practice, office-clerks, poor 
students, apprentices, and shop-boys drop down like hail on 
the Eternal City, for the sake of saying that they have taken 
the Communion in it. The Holy Week brings every year a 
swarm of these locusts. Their entire impedimenta consist of 
a carpet-bag and an umbrella, and of course they put up at 
a hotel. In fact hotels have been built on purpose' to re- 
ceive them. When everybody hired houses, there was no 
need of hotels. The ' Minerva ' is the type of the modern 
Roman caravansary. Your bed is charged half-a-crown per 
night ; you dine in a refectory with a traveller at each elbow. 
The character of the travelling class which invades Rome 
about Easter is illustrated by the conversation which you 
hear going on around you at the table d%6te of the ' Minerva.' 
The following is a specimen : — 

One says triumphantly, " I have done two museums, 
three galleries, and four ruins, to-day." 

" I stuck to the churches," says another, " I had floored 
seventeen by one o'clock." 

" The deuce you had ! You keep the game alive." 

" Yes, I want to have a whole day left for the suburbs." 

" Oh, burn the suburbs ! I've got no time to see them. 



FOEEIGNEES. 1 7 

If I have a day to spare, I must devote it to buying chap- 
lets." * 

" I suppose you've seen the Villa Borghese ? " 

" Oh yes, I consider that in the city, although it is in fact 
outside the walls." 

" How much did they charge you for going over it ? " 

" A paul." 

" I paid two — I've been robbed." 

"As for that, they're all robbers." 

"You're right, but the sight of Rome is worth all it 
costs." 

Shades of the travellers of the olden time — delicate, sub- 
tle, genial spirits — what think you of conversations such as 
this ? Surely you must opine that your footmen knew Rome 
better, and talked more to the purpose about it. 

Across the table I hear a citizen of London town nar- 
rating to a curious audience how he has to-day seen the two 
great lions of Rome, — the Coliseum, and Cardinal Antonelli. 
The conclusion he arrives at is, that the first is a very fine 
ruin, and the second a very clever man. 

A provincial dowager of the devotee class, is worth lis- 
tening to. She has toiled through the entire ceremonies of 
the Holy Week. She has knelt close to the Pope, and de- 
clares his mode of giving the Benediction the most sublime 
thing on earth. The good lady has spared neither time nor 
money in order to carry home a choice collection of relics. 
Among other objects of adoration she has a bone of St. Per- 
pétua, and a real bit of the real Cross. Not satisfied with 
these, she is bent on obtaining the Pope's palm-branch, the 
very identical palm-branch which his Holiness has carried in 

* The ordinary British tourist must not look for his polirait in the 
witty Author's picture. It is clear that here and elsewhere the pilgrims 
are all assumed to he true sons of the Church. — Teaxsl. 



78 THE BOM AX QUESTION. 

his own sacred hand. This is with her a fixed idea, a posi- 
tive question of salvation. The poor old soul has not the 
smallest doubt, that this bit of stick will open for her the 
gates of Paradise. She has made her request to a priest, 
who will transmit it to a Monsignore, who will forward it to 
a Cardinal. Her importunity and her simplicity will, doubt- 
less, move somebody. She will get the precious bough, and 
she is convinced that when she arrives at home with it, all the 
devotees in the province will burst with envy. 

Among these batches of ridiculous travellers, you are 
certain to find some ecclesiastics. Here is one from our 
own country. You have known him in France. Does not 
he strike you as being somewhat changed ? Not in his 
looks, but his manner. Beneath the shadow of his own 
church tower, in the midst of his own flock, he used to be 
the mildest, the meekest, and most modest of parish priests. 
He bowed low to the Mayor, and to the most microscopic of 
the authorities. At Rome, his hat seems glued to his head. 
I almost think — Heaven forgive me ! — it is a trifle cocked. 
How jauntily his cassock is tucked up ! How he struts 
along the street ! Is not his hand on his hip ? Something 
very like it. The reason of this change is as clear as the 
sun at noon. He is in a kingdom governed by his own class. 
He inhales an atmosphere impregnated with clerical pride 
and theocratic omnipotence. Phiz ! It is a bottle of cham- 
pagne saluting him with the cork. By the time he has 
drunk all the contents of the intoxicating beverage, he will 
begin to mutter between his teeth that the French clergy 
does not get its deserts, and that we are a long time in re- 
storing to it the property taken away by the Revolution. 

I actually heard this argument maintained on board the 
steamer which brought me back to France. The principal 
passengers were Prince Souworf, G-overnor of the province 



FOREIGNERS. 79 

of Riga, one of the most distinguished men in Europe ; M. 
de la Rochefoucauld, attached to the French embassy ; M. 
de Angelis, a highly educated and really distinguished mer- 
cante di campagna ; M. Oudry, eogineer of the Civita 
Vecchia railway : and a French ecclesiastic of a respectable 
age and corpulence. This reverend personage, who was no- 
wise disinclined to argumentation, and who had just left a 
country where the priests are never wrong, took to holding- 
forth after dinner upon the merits of the Pontifical Govern- 
ment. I answered as well as I could, like a man unaccus- 
tomed to public speaking. Driven to my last entrenchments, 
and called upon to relate some fact which should not re- 
dound to the Pope's credit, I chose, at hazard, a recent event 
then known to all Rome, as it was speedily about to be to all 
Europe. My honourable interlocutor met my statement with 
the most unqualified, formal, and unhesitating denial. He 
accused me of impudently calumniating an innocent admin- 
istration, and of propagating lies fabricated by the enemies 
of religion. His language was so sublimely authoritative, 
that I felt confounded, overpowered, crushed, and, for a mo- 
ment, I asked myself whether I had not really been telling 
a lie. 

The story I had related was that of the boy Mortar a. 

But I return to Rome and our travellers in the trumpery 
line. Those we overheard before are already gone. But 
their places have been quickly filled. They follow one an- 
other, like vapours rising from the ocean, and they are as 
much like one another as one sea-wave is to its predecessor. 
See them laying-in their stocks of Roman souvenirs at the 
shops in the Corso and the Via Condotti. Their selections 
are principally from the cheap rosaries, coarse mosaics, and 
gilt jewellery, and generally those articles of which a lot may 
be had for a crown-piece. They care little for what is really 



80 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

good in its way ; all they want is something which can be 
bought nowhere but at Rome, and which will serve to their 
descendants as the evidence of their visit to the Eternal City. 
They haggle as if they were at market, and yet, when they 
get back to the ' Minerva,' they wonder they have so little 
to show for their money. 

If they took home nothing worse than their cheap ro- 
saries, I should not find fault with them ; but they carry 
opinions and impressions. Don't tell them of the abuses 
which swarm throughout the kingdom of the Pope. They 
will bridle up, and answer that for their parts they never saw 
a single one. As the surface of things is smooth, at least in 
the best quarter of the town — the only quarter these good 
folks are likely to have seen — they assume, as a matter of 
course, that all is well. They have seen the Pope and the 
Cardinals in all their glory and all their innocence at the 
Sistine Chapel ; and of course it is not on Easter Sunday, 
and in the eyes of the whole multitude, that Cardinal Anto- 
nelli occupies himself with his business or his pleasures. 

When Monsignore B dishonoured a young girl, who 

died of the outrage, and then sent her affianced bridegroom 
to the galleys, he did not select the Sistine Chapel as the 
theatre of his exploits. 

You must not attempt to extract pity for the Italian na- 
tion from these foreign pilgrims of the Holy Week. The 
honest souls have marked the uncultivated waste which ex- 
tends from Civita Yecchia to Rome, and they have at once 
inferred that the people are idle. They have been im- 
portuned for alms by miserable-looking objects in the streets, 
and they conclude that the lower class is a class of beggars. 

The cicerone who took them about, whispered some signi- 
ficant words in their ears, and they are persuaded that every 
Italian is in the habit of offering his wife or his daughter to 



FOREIGNERS. 81 

foreigners. You would astonish these profound observers 
immeasurably, if you were to tell them that the Pope has 
three millions of subjects who in no way resemble the Roman 
rabble. 

Thus it happens that the flying visitor, the superficial 
traveller, the communicant of the Holy Week, the guest of 
the ' Minerva/ i3 a ready-made foe to the nation, a natural 
defender of the clerical government. 

As for the permanent foreign visitors, if they be men 
enervated by the climate or by pleasure, indifferent to the 
fate of nations, strangers to political chicane, they will, in 
the natural order of events, become converted to the ideas of 
the Roman aristocracy, between a quadrille and a cup of 
chocolate. 

If they be studious men, or men of action, sent for a 
specific object, charged to Unravel certain mysteries, or to 
support certain principles, their conversion will be under- 
taken in due form. 

I have seen officers, bold, frank, off-hand men, nowise 
suspected of Jesuitism, who have allowed themselves to be 
gently carried away into the by-paths of reaction by an in- 
visible influence, until they have been heard swearing, like 
pagans, against the enemies of the Pope. Even our own 
generals, less easy to be caught, are sometimes laid hold of 
The Government cajoles them without loving them. 

No effort is spared to persuade them that all is for the 
best. The Roman princes, who think themselves superior to 
all men, treat them upon a footing of perfect equality. The 
Cardinals caress them. These men in petticoats possess 
marvellous seductions, and are irresistible in the art of 
wheedling. The Holy Father himself converses now with 
one, now with the other, and addresses each as " My dear 
General ! " A soldier must be very ungrateful, very badly 
3* 



82 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

taught, and have fallen off sadly from the old French chival- 
ry, if he refuses to let himself be killed at the gates of the 
Vatican where his vanity has been so charmingly tickled. 

Our ambassadors, too, are resident foreigners, exposed 
to the personal flatteries of Roman society. Poor Count de 
Rayneval ! He was so petted, and cajoled, and deceived, 
that he ended by penning the Note of the 14th of May, 
1856. 

His successor, the Duke de Gramont, is not only an ac- 
complished gentleman, but a man of talent, with a highly 
cultivated mind. The Emperor sent him from Turin to 
Rome, so it was to be expected that the Pontifical Govern- 
ment would appear to him doubly detestable, first, from its 
own defects, and then by comparison with what he had just 
quitted. I had the honour of conversing with this brilliant 
young diplomatist, shortly after his arrival, when the Roman 
people expected a great deal of him. I found him opposed 
to the ideas of the Count de Rayneval, and very far from 
disposed to countersign the Note of the 14th of May. 
Nevertheless, he was beginning to judge the administration 
of the Cardinals, and the grievances of the people, with 
something more than diplomatic impartiality. If I were to 
express what appeared to be his opinion, in common parlance, 
I should say he would have put the governors and the gov- 
erned in a bag together. I would wager that, three months 
afterwards, the bag would contain none but the governed, 
and that he would think it only fit to be flung into the water. 
Such is the influence of ecclesiastical cajoleries over even 
the most gifted minds. 

What can the Romans hope from our diplomacy, when 
they see one of the most notorious lacqueys of the Pontifical 
coterie lording it at the French Embassy ? The name of 
the upright man I allude to is Lasagni ; his business is that 



FOKEIGNEES. • 83 

of a consistorial advocate ; we pay him for deceiving us. 
He is known for a Nero, — that is, a fanatical reactionist. 
The secretaries of the embassy despise him, and yet are 
familiar with him ; tell him they know he is going to lie, 
and yet listen to what he says. He smirks, bends double, 
pockets his money and laughs at us in his sleeve. Verily, 
friend Lasagni, you are quite right ! But I regret the 
eighteenth century — there were then such things as canes. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ABSOLUTE CHARACTER OF THE TEMPORAL POWER OF 
THE POPE. 

The Counsellor de Brosses, who wished no harm to the Pope, 
wrote in 1740 : — " The Papal Government, although in fact 
the worst in Europe, is at the same time the mildest. 7 ' 

The Count de Tournon, an honest man, an excellent 
economist, a Conservative as to all existing powers, and a 
judge rather too much prejudiced in favour of the Popes, 
said, in 1832 : — " From this concentration of the powers of 
pontiff, bishop, and sovereign, naturally arises the most ab- 
solute authority possible over temporal affairs ; but the ex- 
ercise of this authority, tempered by the usages and forms 
of government, is even still more so by the virtues of the 
Pontiffs who for many years have filled the chair of St. 
Peter ; so that this most absolute of governments is exer- 
cised with extreme mildness. The Pope is an elective sov- 
ereign ; his States are the patrimony of Catholicism, because 
they are the pledge of the independence of the chief of the 
faithful, and the reigning Pope is the supreme administrator, 
the guardian of this domain." 

Finally, the Count de Eayneval, the latest and least 
felicitous apologist of the Papacy, made in 1856 the follow- 
ing admissions : — " Not long ago the ancient traditions of 






ABSOLUTE TEMPOEAL POTTER OF THE POPE. 85 

the Court of Rome were faithfully observed. All modifica- 
tions of established usages, all improvements, even material, 
were viewed with an evil eye, and seemed full of danger. 
Public affairs were exclusively managed by prelates. The 
higher posts in the State were by law interdicted to laymen. 
In practice the different powers were often confounded. The 
principle of pontifical infallibility was applied to administra- 
tive questions. The personal decision of the Sovereign had 
been known to reverse the decision of the tribunals, even in 
civil matters. The Cardinal Secretary of State, first minis- 
ter in the fullest extent of the term, concentred in his own 
hands all the powers of the State. Under his supreme direc- 
tion the different branches of the administration were con- 
fided to clerks rather than ministers. These neither formed 
a council, nor deliberated together upon the affairs of the 
State. The public finances were administered in the most 
profound secrecy. No information was communicated to the 
nation as to the mode in which its revenues were spent. Not 
only did the budget remain a mystery, but it was afterwards 
discovered that the accounts were frequently not made up 
and balanced. Lastly, municipal liberties, which are appre- 
ciated above all others by the Italians, and which more par- 
ticularly respond to their real tendencies, had been sub- 
mitted to the most restrictive measures. But from, the day 
on which Pope Pius IX. ascended the throne" etc. etc. 

Thus we find that the not long ago of the Count de Ray- 
neval is an exact date. It means, in good French, " before 
the election of Pius IX., : ' or again, "up to the 16th of June, 
1846." 

Thus also M. de Brosses, if he could have returned to 
Rome in 18-46, would have found there, by the admission of 
the Count de Rayneval himself, the worst government in 
Europe. 



86 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

And thus the most absolute of governments, as M. de 
Tournon calls it, still existed in Home in 1846. 

Up to the 16th of June, 1846, Catholicity owned the six 
millions of acres of which the Roman territory consists ; the 
Pope was the administrator, the guardian, the steward ; and 
the citizens of the State seem to have been the ploughmen. 

Up to this era of deliverance, a systematic despotism had 
deprived the subjects of the Pope, not only of all participa- 
tion in public affairs, but of the simplest and most legitimate 
liberties, of the most innocuous progress, and even — I shud- 
der as I write it — of recourse to the laws. The whim of one 
man had arbitrarily reversed the decisions of the courts of 
law. And lastly, an incapable and disorderly caste had 
wasted the public finances without rendering an account to 
any one, occasionally even without rendering it to them- 
selves. All these statements must be believed, because it is 
the Count de Rayneval who makes them. 

Before proceeding, I maintain that this state of things, 
now admitted by the apologists of the Papacy, justifies all 
the discontent of the subjects of the Pope, all their com- 
plaints, all their recriminations, all their outbreaks previous 
to'l846. 

But let me ask this question. Is it true that, since 1846, 
the Papal Government has ceased to be the worst in Eu- 
rope? 

If you can show me a worse, I will go and announce the 
discovery at Rome, and I rather fancy I shall considerably 
astonish the Romans. 

Is the absolute authority of the Papacy limited in any 
way but by the individual virtues of the Pope ? No. 

Does the Constitution of 1848, or the Motu Proprio of 
1849, set limits to this authority ? No. The first has been 
torn up, the second never observed. 



ABSOLUTE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE. 87 

Has the Pope renounced his title of administrator, or 
irresponsible guardian of the patrimony of Catholicism ? 
Never. 

Is the management of public affairs exclusively in the 
hand of prelates ? As much so as ever, 

Are the higher posts in the State still by law interdicted 
to laymen ? Not by law, but in fact they are. 

Are the different powers still confounded in practice ? 
More so than they ever were. The governors of cities act 
as judges, and the bishops as public administrators. 

Has the Pope abandoned any portion of his infallibility 
as to worldly matters ? None whatever. 

Has he deprived himself of the right of overruling the 
decisions of the Courts of Appeal ? No. 

Has the Cardinal Secretary of State ceased to be a 
reigning Minister ? He reigns as absolutely as ever ; and 
the other ministers are more like footmen than clerks to him. 
They may be seen any morning waiting in his antechamber. 

Is there a Council of Ministers ? Yes, whereat the Min- 
isters attend to receive the Cardinal's orders. 

Are the public finances publicly administered ? No. 

Does the nation vote the taxes, or are they taken from 
the nation ? The old system still exists. 

Are municipal liberties at all extended ? They were 
greater in 1816 than they are at present. 

At the present day, as in the days of the most extreme 
pontifical despotism, the Pope is all in all ; he has all ; he 
can do all ; he exercises a perpetual dictatorship, without con- 
trol or limit. 

I own no systematic aversion to the exceptional exercise 
of a dictatorship. The ancient Romans knew its value, often 
had recourse to it, and derived benefit from it. When the 
enemy was at the gates, and the Republic in danger, the 



88 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

Senate and the people, usually so suspicious, placed all their 
rights in the hands of one man, and cried, " Save us !" Some 
grand dictatorships are to be found in the history of all times 
and all peoples. If we examine the different stages of 
humanity, we shall find almost at every one a dictator. One 
dictatorship created the unity of France, another its milita- 
ry greatness, and a third its prosperity in peace. Benefits 
so important as these, which nations cannot acquire alone, 
are well worth the temporary sacrifice of every liberty. A 
man of genius, who is at the same time an honest man, and 
who becomes invested with a boundless authority, is almost a 
God upon earth. 

But the duties of the dictator are in exact proportion 
to the extent of his powers. A parliamentary sovereign, 
who walks in a narrow path traced out by two Chambers, and 
who hears discussed in the morning what he is to do in the 
evening, is almost innocent of the faults of his reign. On 
the contrary, the less a dictator is responsible for his actions 
by the terms of the Constitution, the more does he become so 
in the eyes of posterity. History will reproach him for the 
good he has failed to do, when he could do everything ; and 
his omissions will be accounted to him for crimes. 

I will add, that under no circumstances should the dicta- 
torship last long. Not only would it be an absurdity to at- 
tempt to make it hereditary, but the man who should think 
of exercising it perpetually would be insane. A sick patient 
allows himself to be bound by the surgeon who is about to 
save his life ; but when the operation is over he demands to 
be set at liberty. Nations act in a like manner. From the 
day when the benefits conferred by the master cease to com- 
pensate for the loss of liberty, the nation demands the resto- 
ration of its rights, and a wise dictator will comply with the 
demand. 



ABSOLUTE TE3TPOEAL PO WEE OF THE POPE. 89 

I have often conversed in the Papal States with enlight- 
ened and honourable men, who rank as the heads of the middle 
class. They have said to me almost unanimously : — 

" If a man were to drop down from Heaven among us 
with sufficient power to cut to the root of abuses, to reform 
the administration, to send the. priests to church and the 
Austrians to Vienna, to promulgate a civil code, make the 
country healthy, restore the plains to cultivation, encourage 
manufactures, give freedom to commerce, construct railways, 
secularize education, propagate modern ideas, and put us into 
a condition to bear comparison with the most enlightened 
countries in Europe, we would fall at his feet, and obey him 
as we do G-od. You are told that we are ungovernable. Give 
us but a prince capable of governing, and you shall see 
whether we will haggle about the conditions of power ! Be 
he who he may, and come he whence he may, he shall be ab- 
solutely free to do what he chooses, so long as there is any- 
thing to be done. All we ask is, that when his task is 
accomplished, he shall let us share the power with him. Rest 
assured that even then we shall give him good measure. 
The Italians are accommodating, and are not ungrateful. But 
ask us not to support this everlasting, do-nothing, tormenting, 
ruinous dictatorship, which a succession of decrepit old men 
transmit from one to another. Nor do they even exercise 
it themselves ; but each in his turn, too weak to govern, 
hastens to shift a burden which overpowers him, and delivers 
us, bound hand and foot, to the worst of his Cardinals ! " 

It is too true that the Popes do not themselves exercise 
their absolute power. If the White JPope, or the Holy 
Father, governed personally, we might hope, with a little aid 
from the imagination, that a miracle of grace would make him 
walk straight. He is rarely very capable or very highly 
educated : but as the statue of the Commendatore said, " He 



90 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

who is enlightened by Heaven wants no other light." Un- 
fortunately the White JPope transfers his political functions 
to a Red Pope, that is to say, an omnipotent and irrespon- 
sible Cardinal, under the name of a Secretary of State. 
This one man represents the sovereign within and without, — 
speaks for him, acts for him, replies to foreigners, commands 
his subjects, expresses the Pope's will, and not unfrequently 
imposes his own upon him. 

This second-hand dictator has the best reasons in the 
world for abusing his power. If he could hope to succeed 
his master, and wear the crown in his turn, he might set an 
example, or make a show, of all the virtues. But it is im- 
possible for a Secretary of State to be elected Pope. Not 
only is custom opposed to it, but human nature forbids it. 
Never will the Cardinals in conclave assembled agree among 
one another to crown the man who has ruled them all during 
a reign. Old Lambruschini had taken ail his measures to 
secure his election. There were very few Cardinals who had 
not promised him their voices, and yet it was Pius IX. who 
ascended the throne. The illustrious Consalvi, one of the 
great statesmen of our age, made the same attempt with as 
little success. After such instances it is clear that Cardinal 
Antonelli has no chance of attaining the tiara ; and therefore 
no interest in doing good. 

If he could at least hope that the successor of Pius IX. 
would retain him in his functions, he might observe a little 
caution. But it has never yet happened that the same Sec- 
retary of State has reigned under two Popes. Such an 
event never will occur, because it never has occurred. We 
are in a land where the future is the very humble servant 
of the past. Tradition absolutely requires that a new Pope 
should disgrace the favourite of his predecessor, by way of 
initiating his Papacy with a stroke of popularity. 



ABSOLUTE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE. 91 

Thus every Secretary of State is duly warned that when- 
ever his master takes the road heavenward, he must become 
lost again in the common herd of the Sacred College. He 
feels, therefore, that he ought to make the best possible use 
of his time. 

He has, moreover, the comfortable assurance that after 
his disgrace, he will not be called upon for any account of 
his pa^t deeds ; for the least of the Cardinals is as inviolable 
as the twelve Apostles. Surely, then, he would be a fool to 
refuse anything while he has the power to take it. 

This is the place to sketch, in a few pages, the portraits 
of the two men, — one of whom possesses, and the other ex- 
ercises, the dictatorship over three millions of unfortunate 
beings. 



CHAPTER X. 

PIUS IX. 

Old age, majesty, and misfortune have a claim to the re- 
spect of all right-minded persons : fear not that I shall be 
wanting in such respect. 

But truth has also its claims: it also is old, it is majestic, 
it is holy, and it is sometimes cruelly ill-treated by men. 

I shall not forget that the Pope is sixty-seven years 
of age, that he wears a crown officially venerated by a hun- 
dred and thirty-nine millions of Catholics, that his private 
life has ever been exemplary, that he observes the most noble 
disinterestedness upon a throne where selfishness has long 
held sway, that he spontaneously commenced his reign by 
conferring benefits, that his first acts held out the fairest 
hopes to Italy and to Europe, that he has suffered the lin- 
gering torture of exile, that he exercises a precarious and 
dependent royalty under the protection of two foreign 
armies, and that he lives under the control of a Cardinal. 
But those who have fallen victims to the efforts made to re- 
place him on his throne, those whom the Austrians have, at 
his request, shot and sabred, in order to re-establish his 
authority, and even those who toil in the plague-stricken 
plains of the Roman Campagna to fill his treasury, are far 
more to be pitied than he is. 

Giovanni- Maria, dei Conti Mastai Ferretti, born the 13th 






pifs ix. 93 

May, 1792, and elected Pope the 16th June, 1 846, under 
the name of Pius IX., is a man who looks more than his 
actual age ; he is short, obese, somewhat pallid, and in pre- 
carious health. His benevolent and sleepy countenance 
breathes good-nature and lassitude, but has nothing of an im- 
posing character. Gregory XVI. , though ugly and pimply, 
is said to have had a grand air. 

Pius IX. plays his part in the gorgeous shows of the 
Roman Catholic Church indifferently well. The faithful 
who have come from afar to see him p'erform Mass, are a 
little surprised to see him take a pinch of snuff in the midst 
of the azure-tinted clouds of incense. In his hours of leisure 
he plays at billiards for exercise, by order of his physicians. 

He believes in God. He is not only a good Christian, 
but a devotee. In his enthusiasm for the Virgin Mary, 
he has invented a useless dogma, and disfigured the Piazza 
di Spagna by a monument of bad taste. His morals are 
pure, as they always have been, even when he was a young 
priest : such instances are common enough among our clergy, 
but rare, not to say miraculous, beyond the Alps. 

He has nephews, who, wonderful to relate, are neither 
rich nor powerful, nor even princes. And yet there is no 
law which prevents him from spoiling his subjects for the 
benefit of his family. Gregory XIII. gave his nephew 
Ludovisi £160,000 of good paper, worth so much cash. The 
Borghese family bought at one stroke ninety-five farms with 
the money of Paul V. A commission which met in 1640, 
under the présidence of the Reverend Father Vitelleschi, 
General of the Jesuits, decided, in order to put an end to 
such abuses, that the Popes should confine themselves to 
entailing property to the amount of £16,000 a year upon 
their favourite nephew and his family (with the right of 



94 THE EOiTAX QUESTION. 

creating a second heir to the same privileges), and that the 
portion of each of their nieces shonld not exceed £36,000. 

I am aware that nepotism fell into desuetude at the 
commencement of the eighteenth century ; but there was noth- 
ing to prevent Pius IX. from bringing it into fashion again? 
after the example of Pius YL, if he chose ; but he does not 
choose to do so. His relations are of the second order of 
nobility, and are not rich : he has done nothing to alter their 
position. His nephew, Count Mastai Ferretti, was recently 
married ; and the Pope's wedding present consisted of a few 
diamonds, worth about £8000. Xor did this modest gift 
cost the nation one baioccho. The diamonds came from the 
Sovereign of Turkey. Some ten years ago the Sultan of 
Constantinople, the Commander of the Faithful, presented 
the commander of the unfaithful with a saddle embroidered 
with precious stones. The travellers in the restoring line, who 
used to flock to Gaeta and Portici, carried off a great num- 
ber of them in their bags ; what they left are in the casket 
of the young Countess Ferretti. 

The character of this respectable old man, is made up of 
devotion, simplicity, vanity, weakness, and obstinacy, with 
an occasional touch of rancour. He blesses with unction, 
and pardons with difficulty; he is a good priest, and an 
insufficient king. 

His intellect, which has raised such great hopes, and 
caused such cruel disappointment, is of a very ordinary 
capacity. I can hardly think he is infallible in temporal 
matters. His education is that of the average of cardinals 
in general. He talks French pretty well. 

The Romans formed an exaggerated opinion of him at 
his accession, and have done so ever since. In 1847, when 
he honestly manifested a desire to do good, they called him 
a great man, whereas in point of fact he was simply a worthy 



pius ix. 95 

man who wished to act better than his predecessors had 
done, and thereby to win some applause from Europe. In 
1859, he passes for a violent re-actionist, because events 
have discouraged his good intentions : and above all, be- 
cause Cardinal Antonelli, who masters him by fear, vio- 
lently draws him backwards. I consider him as meriting 
neither past admiration nor present hatred. I pity him for 
having loosened the rein upon his people, without possessing 
the firmness requisite to restrain them seasonably. I pity 
still more that infirmity of character which now allows more 
evil to be done in his name than he has ever himself done 
good. 

The failure of all his enterprises, and three or four 
accidents which happened in his presence, have given rise to 
the popular belief that the Yicar of Jesus Christ is what the 
Italians call jeiiatore — in other words, that he has the evil 
eye. When he drives along the Corso, the old women fall 
down on their knees, but they snap their fingers at him 
beneath their cloaks. 

The members of the Italian secret societies impute to 
him — though for other reasons — all the evils which afflict 
their country. It is evident that the Italian question would 
be greatly simplified, if there were no Pope at Rome ; but 
the hatred of the Mazzinists against Pius* IX. is to be con- 
demned in all its personal aspects. They would kill him to 
a certainty, if our troops were not there to defend him. This 
murder would be as unjust as that of Louis XVI., and as 
useless. The guillotine would deprive a good old man of his 
life, but it would not put an end to the bad principle of 
pacerdotal monarchy. 

I did not seek an audience of Pius IX. ; I neither kissed 
his hand nor his slipper ; the only mark of attention I re- 
ceived from him was a few lines of insult in the Giornale di 



96 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

Roma. Still, I never can hear hhn accused without defend- 
ing him. 

Let my readers for a moment put themselves in the place 
of this too illustrious and too unfortunate old man. After 
having been for nearly two years the favourite of public 
opinion, and the lion of Europe, he found himself obliged to 
quit the Quirinal palace at a moment's notice. At G-aeta 
and Portici he tasted those lingering hours which sour the 
spirit of the exile. A grand and time-honoured principle, 
of which the legitimacy is not doubtful to him, was violated 
in his person. His advisers unanimously said to him : " It 
is your own fault. You have endangered the monarchy by 
your ideas of progress. The immobility of governments is 
the sine qua non of the stability of thrones. You will not 
doubt this, if you read again the history of your predeces- 
sors." He had had time to become converted to this belief, 
when the armies of the Catholic powers once more opened 
for him the road to Rome. Overjoyed at seeing the princi- 
ple saved, he vowed to himself never again to compromise it, 
but to reign without progress, according to papal tradition. 
But these very foreign powers who had saved his crown, 
were the first to impose on him the condition of advancing ! 
What was to be done ? He was equally afraid to promise 
everything, and to refuse everything. After a long hesita- 
tion, he promised in spite of himself; then he absolved him- 
self, for the sake of the future, from the engagements he had 
made for the sake of the present. 

Now he is out of humour with his people, with the 
French, and with himself. He knows the nation is suffer- 
ing, but he allows himself to be persuaded that the misfor- 
tunes of the nation are indispensable to the safety of the 
Church. Those about him take care that the reproaches of 
his conscience shall be stifled by the recollections of 1848 



pius ix. 97 

and the dread of a new revolution. He stops his eyes and 
his ears, and prepares to die calmly between his furious sub- 
jects on one hand, and his dissatisfied protectors on the 
other. Any man wanting in energy, placed as he is, would 
behave exactly in the same manner. The fault is not his, it, 
is that of weakness and old-age. 

But I do not undertake to obtain the acquittal of his 
Minister of State, Cardinal Antonelli 



CHAPTER XL 

ANTONELLI. 

He was born in a den of thieves. His native place, Son- 
nino, is more celebrated in the history of crime than all Ar- 
cadia in the annals of virtue. This nest of vultures was 
hidden in the southern mountains, towards the Neapolitan 
frontier. Roads, impracticable to mounted dragoons, wind- 
ing through brakes and thickets ; forests, impenetrable to 
the stranger ; deep ravines and gloomy caverns, — all com- 
bined to form a most desirable landscape, for the convenience 
of crime. The houses of Sonnino, old, ill-built, flung pell- 
mell one upon the other, and almost uninhabitable by human 
beings, were, in point of fact, little else than depots of pillage 
and magazines of rapine. The population, alert and vigor- 
ous, had for many centuries practised armed robbery and dep- 
redation, and gained its livelihood at the point of the car- 
bine. New-born infants inhaled contempt of the law with 
the mountain air, and drew in the love of others' goods with 
their mothers' milk. Almost as soon as they could walk, 
they assumed the cioccie, or mocassins of untanned leather, 
with which they learned to run fearlessly along the edge of 
the giddiest mountain precipices. When they had acquired 
the art of pursuing and escaping, of taking without being 
taken, the knowledge of the value of the different coins, the 
arithmetic of the distribution of booty, and the principles of 



ANTONELLI. 99 

the rights of nations as they are practised among the 
Apaches or the Comanches, their education was. deemed 
complete. They required no teaching to learn how to apply 
the spoil, and to satisfy their passions in the hour of victory. 

In the year of grace 1806, this sensual, brutal, impious, 
superstitious, ignorant, and cunning race endowed Italy with 
a little mountaineer, known as Giacomo Antonelli. 

Hawks do not hatch doves. This is an axiom in natural 
history which has no need of demonstration. Had Giacomo 
Antonelli been gifted at his birth with the simple virtues of 
an Arcadian shepherd, his village would have instantly dis- 
owned him. But the influence of certain events modified 
his conduct, although they failed to modify his nature. His 
infancy and his childhood were subjected to two opposing 
influences. If he received his earliest lessons from success- 
ful brigandage, his next teachers were the gendarmerie. 
When he was hardly four years old, the discharge of a high 
moral lesson shook his ears : it was the French troops who 
were shooting brigands in the outskirts of Sonnino. After 
the return of Pius VII. he witnessed the decapitation of a 
few neighbouring relatives who had often dandled him on their 
knees. Under Leo XII. it was still worse. Those whole- 
some correctives, the wooden horse and the supple-jack, were 
permanently established in the village square. About once a 
fortnight the authorities rased the house of some brigand, 
after sending his family to the galleys, and paying a reward 
to the informer who had denounced him. St. Peter's Gate, 
which adjoins the house of the Antonellis, was ornamented 
with a garland of human heads, which eloquent relics 
grinned dogmatically enough in. their iron cages. If the 
stage be a school of life, surely such a stage as this is a rare 
teacher. Young Giacomo was enabled to reflect upon the 
inconveniences of brigandage, even before he had tasted its 



100 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

sweets. About him some men of progress had already en- 
gaged in industrial pursuits of a less hazardous nature than 
robbery. His own father, who, it was whispered, had in 
him the stuff of a G-asparone or a Passatore, instead of ex- 
posing himself upon the highways, took to keeping bullocks; 
he then became an Intendant, and subsequently was made a 
Municipal Receiver; by which occupations he acquired 
more money at considerably less risk. 

The young Antonelli hesitated for some time as to the 
choice of a calling. His natural vocation was that of the 
inhabitants of Sonnino in general, to live in plenty, to enjoy 
every sort of pleasure, to make himself at home everywhere, 
to be dependent upon nobody, to rule others, and to frighten 
them, if necessary, but, above all, to violate the laws with 
impunity. With the view of attaining so lofty an end with- 
out exposing his life, for which he ever had a most particular 
regard, he entered the great seminary of Rome. 

In our land of scepticism, a young man enters the semi- 
nary with the hope of being ordained a priest : Antonelli 
entered it with the opposite intention. But in the capital 
of the Catholic Church, young Lévites of ordinary intelli- 
gence become magistrates, prefects, councillors of state, and 
ministers, while the " dry fruit* is thought good enough for 
making priests." 

Antonelli so distinguished himself, that (with Heaven's 
help) he escaped the sacrament of Ordination. He has never 
said mass : he has never confessed a penitent ; I won't swear 
he has even confessed himself. He gained what was of more 
value than all the Christian virtues — the friendship of Greg- 
ory XVI. He became a prelate, a magistrate, a prefect, 

* An expression in use among collegians in France, to describe those 
students who are unable to pass their examinations ; tantamount to our 
English plucked. 



ANTONELLI. 101 

Secretary General of the Interior, and Minister of Finance. 
No one can say he has not chosen the right path. A 
finance minister, if he knows anything of his business, can 
lay by more money in six months than all the brigands of 
Sonnino in twenty years. 

Under Gregory XVI. he had been a reactionist, to please 
his sovereign. On the accession of Pius IX., for the same 
reason, he professed liberal ideas. A red hat and a ministe- 
rial portfolio were the recompense of his new convictions, and 
proved to the inhabitants of Sonnino that liberalism itself is 
more lucrative than brigandage. What a practical lesson 
for those mountaineers ! One of themselves clothed in pur- 
ple and fine linen, actually riding in his gilt coach, passed 
the barracks, and their old friends the dragoons presenting 
arms, instead of firing long shots at him ! 

He obtained the same influence over the new Pope that 
he had over the old one, thus proving that people may be 
got hold of without stopping them on the highway. Pius 
IX., who had no secrets from him, confided to him his wish 
to correct abuses, without concealing his fear of succeeding 
too well. He served the Holy Father, even in his irreso- 
lutions. As President of the Supreme Council of State, he 
proposed reforms, and as Minister he postponed their adop- 
tion. Nobody was more active than he, whether in settling 
or in violating the constitution of 1848. He sent Durando 
to fight the Austrians, and disavowed him after the battle. 

He quitted the ministry as soon as he found there were 
dangers to be encountered, but assisted the Pope in his secret 
opposition to his ministers. The murder of Count Rossi 
gave him serious cause for reflection. A man don't take the 
trouble to be born at Sonnino, in order to let himself be as- 
sassinated : quite the contrary. He placed the Pope — and 



102 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

himself — in safety, and then went to Graeta to play the part 
of Secretary of State in partibus. 

From this exile dates his omnipotence over the will of 
the Holy Father, his reinstatement in the esteem of the 
Anstrians, and the consistency in his whole conduct. Since 
then no more contradictions in his political life. They who 
formally accused him of hesitating between the welfare of 
the nation and his own personal interest are reduced to 
silence. He wishes to restore the absolute power of the 
Pope, in order that he may dispose of it at his ease. He 
prevents all reconciliation between Pius IX. and his subjects ; 
he summons the cannon of Catholicism to effect the conquest 
of Rome. He ill-uses the French, who are willing to die for 
him ; he turns a deaf ear to the liberal counsels of Napoleon 
III. ; he designedly prolongs the exile of his master ; he 
draws up the promises of the Moiu Proprio, while devising 
means to elude them. At length, he returns to Rome, and 
for ten years continues to reign over a timid old man and an 
enslaved people, opposing a passive resistance to all the 
counsels of diplomacy and all the demands of Europe. 
Clinging tenaciously to power, reckless as to the future, mis- 
using present opportunities, and day by day increasing his 
fortune — after the manner of Sonnino. 

In this year of grace 1 859, he is fifty- three years of age. 
He presents the appearance of a well-preserved man. His 
frame is slight and robust, and his constitution is that of a 
mountaineer. The breadth of his forehead, the brilliancy of 
his eyes, his beak-like nose, and all the upper part of his face 
inspire a certain awe. His countenance, of almost Moorish 
hue, is at times lit up by flashes of intellect. But his heavy 
jaw, his long fang-like teeth, and his thick lips express the 
grossest appetites. He gives you the idea of a minister 
grafted on a savage. When he assists the Pope in the cere- 



AUTOKELU. 103 

monies of the Holy "Week lie is magnificently disdainful and 
impertinent. He turns from time to time in the direction of 
the diplomatic tribune, and looks without a smile at the poor 
ambassadors, whom he cajoles from morniDg to night. You 
admire the actor who bullies his public. But when at an 
evening party he engages in close conversation with a hand- 
some woman, the play of his countenance shows the direction 
of his thoughts, and those of the imaginative observer are 
imperceptibly carried to a roadside in a lonely forest, in 
which the principal objects are prostrate postilions, an over- 
turned carriage, trembling females, and a select party of the 
inhabitants of Sonnino ! 

He lives in the Vatican, immediately over the Pope. 
The Romans ask punningly which is the uppermost, the 
Pope or Antonelli % 

All classes of society hate him equally. Concini himself 
was not more cordially detested. He is the only liviDg man 
concerning whom an entire people is agreed. 

A Roman prince furnished me with some information 
respecting the relative fortunes of the nobility. When he 
gave me the list he said, " You will remark the names of two 
individuals, the amount of whose property is described as 
unlimited. They are Torlonia and Antonelli. They have 
both made large fortunes in a few years, — the first by specu- 
lation, the second by power." 

The Cardinals Altieri and Antonelli were one day dis- 
puting upon some point in the Pope's presence. They flatly 
contradicted one another; and the Pope inclined to the 
opinion of his Minister. " Since your Holiness," said the 
noble Altieri, " accords belief to a ciociari * rather than to 
a Roman prince, I have nothing to do but to withdraw." 

* A man who has -worn cioccie. 



104 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

The Apostles themselves appear to entertain no very 
amicable feelings towards the Secretary of State. The last 
time the Pope made a solemn entry into his capital (I think 
it was after his journey to Bologna), the Porta del Popolo 
and the Corso were according to custom hung with draperies, 
behind which the old statues of St. Peter and St. Paul were 
completely hidden. Accordingly the people were entertain- 
ed by findiDg the following dialogue appended to the corner 
of the street : — 

Peter to Paul. " It seems to me, old fellow, that we are 
somewhat forsaken here." 

Paul to Peter. " "What would you have ? We are no 
longer anything. There is but James in the world now." 

I am aware that hatred proves nothing — even the hatred 
of Apostles. The French nation, which claims to be thought 
just, insulted the funeral procession of Louis XIV. It also 
occasionally detested Henri IV. for his economy, and Napo- 
leon for his victories. No statesman should be judged upon 
the testimony of his enemies. The only evidence we should 
admit either for or against him, is his public acts. The only 
witnesses to which any weight should be attributed are the 
greatness and the prosperity of the country he governs. 

Such an inquiry would, I fear, be ruinous to Antonelli. 
The nation reproaches him with all the evils it has suffered 
for the last ten years. The public wretchedness and igno- 
rance, the decline of the arts, the entire suppression of liberty, 
the ever-present curse of foreign occupation, — all fall upon 
his head, because he alone is responsible for everything. 

It may be alleged that he has at least served the reaction- 
ary party. I much doubt it. What internal factions has 
he suppressed ? Secret societies have swarmed in Rome 
during his reign. What remonstrances from without has he 
silenced ? Europe continues to complain unanimously, and 



ASTT02TELLI. 105 

day by day lifts up its voice a tone or two higher. He has 
failed to reconcile one single party or one single power to 
the Holy father. During his ten years' dictatorship, he has 
neither gained the esteem of one foreigner nor the confidence 
of one Roman. All he has gained is time. His pretended 
capacity is but slyness. To the trickery of the present he 
adds the cunning of the red Indian : but he has not that 
largeness of view without which it is impossible to establish 
firmly the slavery of the people. No one possesses in a 
greater degree than he the art of dragging on an affair, and 

O C CD O 

manoeuvring with and tiring out diplomatists ; but it is not 
by pleasantries of this sort that a tottering tyranny can be 
propped up. Although he employs every subterfuge known 
to dishonest policy, I am not quite sure that he has even the 
craft of a politician. 

The attainment of his own end does not in fact require 
it. For after all. what is his end ? In what hope, with 
what aim, did he come down from the mountains of Son- 
nino ? 

Do you really believe he thought of becoming the bene" 
factor of the nation ? — or the saviour of the Papacy ? — or 
the Don Quixote of the Church ? Xot such a fool ! He 
thought, first, of himself; secondly, of his family. 

His family is flourishing. His four brothers, Filippo, 
Luigi, Gregorio, and — save the mark ! — Angelo, all wore the 
cioccie in their younger days ; they now, one and all, wear the 
count's coronet. One is governor of the bank, a capital 
post, and since poor Campana's condemnation he has got the 
Monte di Pietà. Another is Conservator of Rome, under a 
Senator especially selected for his incapacity. Another 
follows openly the trape of a monopolist, with immense facil- 
ities for either preventing or authorizing exportation, accord- 
ing as his own warehouses happen to be full or empty. The 



106 THE EOMAN QUESTION 

youngest is the commercial traveller, the diplomatist, the 
messenger of the family, Angélus Domini. A cousin of the 
family, Count Dandini, reigns over the police. This little 
group is perpetually at work adding to a fortune which is 
invisible, impalpable, and incalculable. The house of Anto- 
nelli is not pitied at Sonnino. 

As for the Secretary of State, all who know him inti- 
mately, both men and women, agree that he leads a pleasant 
life. If it were not for the bore of making head against the 
diplomatists, and giving audience every morning, he would 
be the happiest of mountaineers. His tastes are simple ; a 
scarlet silk robe, unlimited power, an enormous fortune, a 
European reputation, and all the pleasures within man's 
reach — this trifle satisfies the simple tastes of the Cardinal 
Minister. Add, by the bye, a splendid collection of minerals, 
perfectly classified which he is constantly enriching with the 
passion of an amateur and the tenderness of a father. 

I was saying just now that he has always escaped the 
sacrament of Holy Orders. He is Cardinal Deacon. The 
good souls who will have it that all goes well at Rome, dwell 
with fervour on the advantage he possesses in not being a 
priest. If he is accused of possessing inordinate wealth, 
these indulgent Christians reply, that he is not a priest I 
If you charge him with having read Machiavelli to good 
purpose ; admitted — what then ? — he is no priest ! If the 
tongue of scandal is over-free with his private life ; still the 
ready reply, that he is not a priest ! If Deacons are thus 
privileged, what latitude -may we not claim who have not 
even assumed the tonsure ? 

This highly-blest mortal has one weakness — truly a very 
natural one. He fears death. A certain fair lady, who had 
been honoured by his Eminence's particular attentions, thus 
illustrated the fact. " Upon meeting me at our rendezvous, 



ANTOXELLI. 107 

he seized me like a madman, and with trembling eagerness 
examined rny pockets. It was only when he had assured 
himself that I had no concealed weapon about me that he 
seemed to remember our friendship." 

One man alone has dared to threaten a life so precious 
to itself, and he was an idiot. Instigated by some of the 
secret societies, this poor crazed wretch concealed himself 
beneath the staircase of the Vatican, and awaited the com- 
ing of the Cardinal. When the intended victim appeared, the 
idiot with much difficulty drew from beneath his waistcoat — 
a table-fork ! Antonelli saw the terrible weapon, and bound- 
ed backwards with a spring which an x^lpine chamois-hunter 
might have envied. The miserable assassin was instantly 
seized, bound, and delivered over to justice. The Roman 
tribunals, so often lenient towards the really guilty, had no 
mercy for this real innocent. He was beheaded. The Car- 
dinal, full of pity, fell — officially — at the Pope's feet, and 
asked for a pardon which he well knew would be refused. 
He pays the widow a pension : is not this the act of a clever 
man ? 

Since the day when that formidable fork glittered before 
his eyes, he has taken excessive precautions. His horses are 
broken to gallop furiously through the streets, at consider- 
able public risk. Occasionally, his carriage knocks down 
and runs over a little boy or girl. With characteristic mag- 
nanimity, he sends the parents fifty crowns. 

Antonelli has been compared to Mazarin. They have, 
in common, the fear of death, inordinate love of money, a 
strong family feeling, utter indifference to the people's wel- 
fare, contempt for mankind, and some other accidental points 
of resemblance. They were born in the same mountains, or 
nearly so. One obtained the influence over a woman's heart 
which the other possesses over the mind of an old man. 



108 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

Both governed unscrupulously, and both have merited and 
obtained the hatred of their contemporaries. They have 
talked French comically, without being insensible to any of 
the delicate niceties of the language. 

Still there would be manifest injustice in placing them 
in the same rank. The selfish Mazarin dictated to Europe 
the treaties of "Westphalia, and the Peace of the Pyrenees : 
be founded by diplomacy the greatness of Louis XIV., and 
managed the affairs of the French monarchy, without in any 
way neglecting his own. 

Antonelli has made his fortnne at the expense of the na- 
tion, the Pope, and the Church. Mazarin may be compared 
to a skilful but rascally tailor, who dresses his customers 
well, while he contrives to cabbage sundry yards of their cloth; 
Antonelli, to those Jews of the Middle Ages, wbo demol- 
ished the Coliseum for the sake of the old iron in the walls. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PEIE5TLT GOVEEXMEXT. 

If the Pope were merely the head of the Roman Catholic 
Church ; if, limiting his action to the interior of temples, he 
would renounce the sway over temporal matters about which 
he knows nothing, his countrymen of Rome, Ancona, and 
Bologna might govern themselves as people do in London or 
in Paris. The administration would be lay, the laws would 
be lay, the nation would provide for its own wants with its 
own revenues, as is the custom in all civilized countries. 

As for the general expenses of the Roman Catholic wor- 
ship, which in point of fact no more specially concern the Ro- 
mans than they do the Champenois, a voluntary contribution 
made by one hundred and thirty-nine millions of men would 
amply provide for them. If each individual among the 
faithful were to give a halfpenny per annum, the head of the 
Church' would have something like £300,000 to spend upon 
his wax tapers and his incense, his choristers and his sacris- 
tans, and the repairs of the basilica of St. Peter's. No 
Roman Catholic would think of refusing his quota, because 
the Holy Father, entirely separated from worldly interests, 
would not be in a position to offend anybody. This small 
tax would, therefore, restore independence to the Romans 
without diminishing the independence of the Pope. 

unfortunately the Pope is a king. In this capacity he 



110 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

must have a Court, or something approaching to it. He 
selects his courtiers among men of his own faith, his own 
opinions, and his own profession : nothing can be more reas- 
onable. These courtiers, in their turn, dispose of the dif- 
ferent offices of state, spiritual or temporal, just as it may 
happen. Nor can the Sovereign object to this pretension 
as being ridiculous. Moreover he naturally hopes to be 
more faithfully served by priests than laymen; while he 
feels that the salaries attached to the best-paid places are 
necessary to the splendour of his Court. 

Thence it follows that to preach the secularization of the 
government to the Pope, is to preach to the winds. Here 
you have a man who would not be a layman, who pities lay- 
men simply because they are laymen, regarding them as a 
caste inferior to his own ; who has received an anti-lay edu- 
cation; who thinks differently to laymen on all important 
points ; and you expect this man will share his power with 
laymen, in an empire where he is absolute master of all and 
everything ! You require him to surround himself with lay- 
men, to summon them to his councils, and to confide to them 
the execution of his behests ! 

Supposing, however, that for some reason or other he 
fears you, and wishes to humour you a little, see what he will 
do. He will seek in the outer offices of his ministers 
some lay secretary, or assistant, or clerk, a man without 
character or talent ; he will employ him, and take care that 
his incapacity shall be universally known and admitted. 
After which, he will say to you sadly, " I have done what I 
could." But if he were to speak the honest truth, he would 
at once say, " If you wish to secularize anything, begin by 
putting laymen in my place." 

It is not in 1859 that the Pope will venture to speak so 
haughtily. Intimidated by the protection of France, deaf- 



PRIESTLY GOVERNMENT. Ill 

ened by the unanimous complaints of his subjects, obliged to 
reckon with public opinion, he declares that he has secularized 
everything. " Count my functionaries," he says; "I have 
14,576 laymen in my service. You have been told that 
ecclesiastics monopolize the public service. Show me these 
ecclesiastics ! The Count de Rayneval looked for them, 
and could find but ninety-eight ; and even of those, the 
greater part were not in priests' orders ! Be assured we 
have long since broken with the clerical régime. I myself 
decreed the admissibility of laymen to all offices but one. 
In order to show my sincerity, for some time I had lay min- 
isters ! I entrusted the finances to a mere accountant, the 
department of justice to an obscure little advocate, and that 
of war to a man of business who had been intendant to several 
Cardinals. I admit that for the moment we have no lay- 
men in the Ministry; but my subjects may console them- 
selves by reflecting that the law does not prevent me from 
appointing them. 

" In the provinces, out of eighteen prefects, I appointed 
three laymen. If I afterwards substituted prelates for those 
three, it was because the people loudly called for the change. 
Is it my fault if the people respect nothing but the ecclesias- 
tical garb ? " 

This style of defence may deceive some good easy folk ; 
but I think if I were Pope, or Secretary of State, or even a 
simple supporter of the Pontifical administration, I should 
prefer telling the plain truth. That truth is strictly logical, it is 
in conformity with the principle of the Government ; it ema- 
nates from the Constitution. Things are exactly what they 
ought to be, if not for the welfare of the people, at least for 
the greatness, security, and satisfaction of its temporal head. 

The truth then is that all the ministers, all the prefects, 
all the ambassadors, all the court dignitaries, and all the judges 



112 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

of the superior tribunals, are ecclesiastics ; that the Secretary 
of the Brevi and the Memoriali, the Presidents and Vice- 
Presidents of the Council of State and the Council of Fi- 
nances, the Director-General of the Police, the Director of 
Public Health and Prisons, the Director of the Archives, the 
Attorney-General of the Fisc, the President and the Secretary 
of the Cadastro, the Agricultural President and Commission, 
are all ecclesiastics. The public education is in the hands 
of ecclesiastics, under the direction of thirteen Cardinals. 
All the charitable establishments, all the funds applicable to 
the relief of the poor, are the patrimony of ecclesiastical 
directors. Congregations of Cardinals decide causes in their 
leisure hours, and the Bishops of the kingdom are so many 
living tribunals. 

Why seek to conceal from Europe so natural an order 
of things ? 

Let Europe rather be told what it did when it re-estab- 
lished a priest on the throne of Rome. 

All the offices which confer power or profit belong first 
to the Pope, then to the Secretary of State, then to the 
Cardinals, and lastly to the Prelates. Everybody takes his 
share according to the hierarchical order ; and when all are 
satisfied, the crumbs of power are thrown to the nation at 
large ; in other words, the 14,596 places which no ecclesias- 
tic chooses to take, particularly the distinguished office of 
Guardia Campestre, a sort of rural police. Nobody need 
wonder at such a distribution of places. In the government 
of Rome, the Pope is everything, the Secretary of State is 
almost everything, the Cardinals are something, and the 
priests on the road to become something. The lay nation, 
which marries and gives in marriage, and peoples the State, 
is nothing — never will be anything. 

The word prelate has fallen from my pen ; I will pause 



PELESTLT G0YEKX3TEXT. 113 

a moment to explain its precise meaning. Among us it is a 
title sufficiently respected : at Eome it is far less so. We 
have no prelates but our Archbishops and Bishops. "When 
we see one of these venerable men driving slowly out of his 
palace in an old-fashioned carriage drawn by a single pair of 
horses, we know, without being told it, that he has spent 
three-fourths of his existence in the exercise of the most 
meritorious works. He said Mass in some small village 
before he was made the cure of a canton. He has preached, 
confessed, distributed alms to the poor, borne the viaticum to 
the sick, committed the dead to their last narrow home. 

The Roman prelate is often a great hulking fellow who 
has just left college, with the tonsure for his only sacrament. 
He is a Doctor of something or other, he owns some proper- 
ty, more or less, and he enters the Church as an amateur, to 
see if he can make something out of it. The Pope gives 
him leave to style himself Monsignore, instead of Signore, 
and to wear violet- coloured stockings. Clad in these he 
starts on his road, hoping it may lead him to a Cardinal's 
hat. He passes through the courts of law, or the adminis- 
tration, or the domestic service of the Vatican, as the case 
may be. All these paths lead in the right direction, provid- 
ed the traveller pursuing them has zeal, and professes a pious 
scorn for liberal ideas. The ecclesiastical calling is by no 
means indispensable, but nothing can be achieved without 
a good stock of retrograde ideas. The prelate who should 
take the Emperor's letter to M. Edgar Ney seriously, would 
be, in vulgar parlance, done for; the only course open to 
him would be — to marry. At Paris, a man disappointed in 
ambition takes prussic acid ; at Rome, he takes a wife. 

Sometimes the prelate is a cadet of a noble house, one in 
which the right to a red hat is traditional. Knowing this 
he feels that the moment he puts on his violet stockings, he 



114 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

may order his scarlet ones. In the meanwhile he takes his 
degrees, and profits by the occasion to sow his wild oats. 
The Cardinals shut their eyes to his conduct, so he does but 
profess wholesome ideas. Do what you please, child of 
princes, so joiit heart be but clerical ! 

Finally, it is not uncommon to find among the prelates 
some soldiers of fortune, adventurers of the Church, who 
have been attracted from their native land by the ambition 
of ecclesiastical greatness. This corps of volunteers receives 
contingents from the whole Catholic world. These gentle- 
men furnish some strange examples to the Roman people ; 
and I know more than one of them to whom mothers of fami- 
lies would on no account confide the education of their chil- 
dren. It has happened to me to have described in a novel* 
a prelate who richly deserved a thrashing ; the good folks of 
Rome have named to me three or four whom they fancied 
they recognized in the portrait. But it has never yet been 
known that any prelate, however vicious, has given utterance 
to liberal ideas. A single word from a Roman prelate's lips 
in behalf of the nation would ruin him. 

The Count de Rayneval has laboured hard to prove that 
prelates, who have not received the sacrament of Ordination, 
form part of the lay element. At this rate, a province 
should deem itself fortunate, and think it has escaped priestly 
government, if its prefect is simply tonsured. I cannot for 
the life of me see in what tonsured prelates are more laymen 
than they are priests. I admit that they neither follow the 
calling nor possess the virtues of the priesthood ; but I main- 
tain that they have the ideas, the interests, the passions of 
the ecclesiastical caste. They aim at the Cardinal's hat, 
when their ambition does not soar to the tiara. Singular 
laymen, truly, and well fitted to inspire confidence in a lay 

x'Tolla: 1 vol. 12mo. 



PEIESTLY GOVERNMENT. 115 

people ! 'Twere better they should become Cardinals ; for 
then they would no longer have their fortunes to make, and 
they would not be called upon to signalize their zeal against 
the nation. 

For that is, unhappily, the state at which things have ar- 
rived. This same ecclesiastical caste, so strongly united by 
the bonds of a learned hierarchy, reigns as over a conquered 
country. It regards the middle class, — in other words, the 
intelligent and laborious part of the nation, — as an irrecon- 
cilable foe. The prefects are ordered, not to govern the 
provinces, but to keep them in order. The police is kept, 
not to protect the citizens, but to watch them. The tribu- 
nals have other interests to defend than those of justice. 
The diplomatic body does not represent a country, but a 
coterie. The educating body has the mission not to teach, 
but to prevent the spread of instruction. The taxes are not 
a national assessment, but an officiai foray for the profit of 
certain ecclesiastics. Examine all the departments of the 
public administration : you will everywhere find the clerical 
element at war with the nation, and of course everywhere 
victorious. 

In this state of things it is idle to say to the Pope, " Fill 
your principal offices with laymen." You might as well say 
to Austria, " Place your fortresses under the guard of the 
Piedmontese." The Roman administration is what it must 
be. It will remain what it is as long as there is a Pope on 
the throne. 

Besides, although the lay population still complains of 
being systematically excluded from power, matters have 
reached such a point, that an honest man of the middle class 
would think himself dishonoured by accepting a high post. 
It would be said that he had deserted the nation to serve the 
enemy. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

POLITICAL SEYEEITY. 

It is admitted that the Popes have always been remarkable 
for a senile indulgence and goodness. I do not pretend to 
deny the assertions of M. de Brosses and M. de Tournon 
that this government is at once the mildest, the worst, and 
the most absolute in Europe. 

And yet Sixtus V., a great Pope, was a still greater 
executioner. That man of God delivered over to the gallows 
a Pepoli of Bologna, who had bestowed upon him a kick in- 
stead of a piece of bread when he was a mendicant friar. 

And yet Gregory XVI. , in our own times, granted ^"dis- 
pensation of age to a minor for the sake of having him 
legally executed. 

And yet the punishment of the wooden horse was revived 
four years ago by the mild Cardinal Antonelli. 

And yet the Pontifical State is the only one in Europe 
in which the barbarous practice of placing a price upon a 
man's head is still in use. 

Never mind. Since, after all, the Pontifical State is that 
in which the most daring crimes and the most open assassi- 
nations have the greatest chance of beiag committed with 
perfect impunity, I will admit, with M. de Brosses and M. 
de Tournon, that it is the mildest in Europe. 



POLITICAL SEVERITY. 117 

I am about to examine with you the application of thi3 
mildness to political matters. 

Nine years ago Pius IX. re-entered his capital, as the 
father of a family his house, after having the door broken 
open. It is not likely that either the Holy Father, or the 
companions of his exile, were animated by very lively feel- 
ings of gratitude towards the chiefs of the revolution which 
had driven them away. A priest never quite forgets that he 
was once a, man. 

This is why two hundred and eighty-three individuals* 
were excluded from the general amnesty recommended by 
France and promised by the Pope. It is unfortunate for these 
two hundred and eighty-three that the Gospel is old, and 
forgiveness of injuries out of date. Perhaps you will remind 
me that St. Peter cut off one of the ears of Malchus. 

By the clemency of the Pope, fifty-nine of these exiles 
were pardoned, during a period of nine years, if men can be 
said to be pardoned who are recalled provisionally, some for 
a year, others for half a year, or who are brought home only 
to be placed under the surveillance of the police. A man 
who is forbidden to exercise the calling to which he was 
bred, and whose sole privilege is that of dying of starvation 
in his native land, is likely rather to regret his exile some- 
times. 

I was introduced to one of the fifty-nine privileged par- 
takers of the pontifical clemency. He is an advocate; at 
least he was until the day when he obtained his pardon. He 
related to me the history of the tolerably inoffensive part he 
had played in 1848; the hopes he had founded on the am- 
nesty ; his despair when he found himself excluded from it ; 
some particulars of his life in exile, such, for instance, as his 

* ' The Victories of the Church,' hy the Priest Margotti. 1857. 



118 THE EOilAN QUESTION. 

having had recourse to giving lessons in Italian, like the il- 
lustrious Manin, and so many others. 

" I could have lived happily enough,"' he said, u but one 
davthe home-sickness laid mv heart low; I felt that I must 
see Italy, or die. My family took the necessary steps, and it 
fortunately happened that we knew some one who had inter- 
est with a Cardinal. The police dictated the conditions of my 
return, and I accepted them without knowing what they 
were. If they had told me I could not return without cut- 
ting off my right arm. I would have cut it off. The Pope 
signed my pardon, and then published my name in the news- 
papers, so that none might be ignorant of his clemency. 
But I am interdicted from resuming my practice at the Bar, 
and a man can hardly gain a livelihood by teaching Italian 
in a countrv where evervbodv speaks it." 

As he concluded, the neishbourino: church-bells be^an to 
sound the Ave Maria. He turned pale, seized his hat, and 
rushed out of my room, exclaiming, " I knew not it was so 
late ! Should the police arrive at my house before I can 
reach it, I am a lost man ! " 

His friends explained to me the cause of his sudden 
alarm : the poor man is subject to the police regulation 
termed the Preceito. 

He must always return to his abode at sunset, and he is 
then shut in till the next morning. The police may force 
their way in at any time during the night, for the purpose 
of ascertaining that he is there. He cannot leave the city 
under any pretence whatever, even in broad day. The 
slightest infraction of these rules exposes him to imprison- 
ment, or to a new exile. 

The Pontifical States are full of men subject to the Pre- 
cetto : some are criminals who are watched in their homes, 
for want of prison accommodation ; others are suspected per- 



. POLITICAL SEYEEITT. 119 

sons. The number of these unfortunate beings is not given 
in the statistical tables, but I know, from an official source, 
that in Viterbo, a town of fourteen thousand souls, there are 
no less than two hundred. 

The want of prison accommodation explains many things, 
and, among others, the freedom of speech which exists 
throughout the country. If the Government took a fancy 
to arrest everybody who hates it openly, there would be 
neither gendarmes nor gaolers enough; above all, there would 
be an insufficiency of those houses of peace, of which it has 
been said, that " their potection and «salubrity prolong the 
life of their inmates. 5 '* 

The citizens, then, are allowed to speak freely, provided 
always they do not gesticulate too violently. But we may 
be sure no word is ever lost in a State watched by priests. 
The Government keeps an accurate list of those who wish it 
ill. It revenges itself when it can, but it never runs after 
vengeance. It watches its occasion ; it can afford to be pa- 
tient, because it thinks itself eternal. 

If the bold speaker chance to hold a modest government 
appointment, a purging commission quietly cashiers him, and 
turns him delicately out into the street. 

Should he be a person of independent fortune, they wait till 
he wants something, as, for instance, a passport. One of my 
good friends in Rome has been for the last nine years tryino- 
to get leave to travel. He is rich and energetic. The busi- 
ness he follows is one eminently beneficial to the State. A 
journey to foreign countries would complete his knowledge, 
and advance his interests. For the last nine years he has 
been applying for an interview with the head of the pass- 

* ■ Proemio della Statistical putblicata nel 1857, dalT Eminentis- 
simo Cardinale Milesi. 



120 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

port office, and has never yet received an answer to his ap- 
plication. 

Others, who have applied for permission to travel in 
Piedmont, have received for answer, " Go, but return no 
more." They have not been exiled; there is no need of ex- 
ercising unnecessary rigour ; but on receiving eir pass- 
ports, they have been compelled to sign an act of oluntary 
exile. The Greeks said, "Not every one who will goes to 
Corinth." The Romans have substituted Turin for Corinth. 

Another of my friends, the Count X., has been, for. years, 
carrying on a lawsuit before the infallible tribunal of the 
Sacra Rota. His cause could not have been a badv one, 
seeing that he lost and gained it some seven or eight times 
before the same judges. It assumed a deplorably bad com- 
plexion from the day the Count became my friend. 

When once the discontented proceed from words to actions 
you may indeed pity them. 

A person charged with a political offence summoned be- 
fore the Sacra Consulta (for everything is holy and sacred, 
even justice and injustice), must be defended by an advo- 
cate, not chosen by himself, against witnesses whose very 
names are unknown to him. 

In the capital (and under the eyes of the French army) 
the extreme penalty of the law is rarely carried out. The 
government is satisfied with quietly suppressing people, by 
shutting them up in a fortress for life. The state prisons 
are of two sorts, healthy and unhealthy. In the establish- 
ment coming within the second category, perpetual seclusion 
is certain not to be of very long duration. 

The fortress of Pagliano is one of the most wholesome. 
When I walked through it there were two hundred and fifty 
prisoners, all political. The people of the country told me 
that in 1856 these unfortunate men had made an attempt at 



POLITICAL SEVTvRITT. 121 

escape. Fire or six had been shot on the roof like so many 
sparrows. The remainder, according to the common law, 
would be liable to the galleys for eight years ; but an old 
ordinance of Cardinal Lante was revived, by which, God 
willing, some of them may be guillotined. 

It is, 3wever, beyond the Apennines that the paternal 
character, of the Government is chiefly displayed. The 
French are not there, and the Pope's reactionary police duty 
is perfoimed by the Austrian army. The law there is mar- 
tial lav . The prisoner is without counsel ; his judges are 
Austrian officers, his executioners Austrian soldiers. A man 
may be beaten or shot because some gentleman in uniform 
happens to be in a bad temper. A youth sends up a Bengal 
light, — the galleys for twenty years. A woman prevents a 
snicker from lighting his cigar, — twenty lashes. In seven 
years Ancona has witnessed sixty capital executions, and 
Bologna a hundred and eighty. Blood flows, and the Pope 
washes his hands of it. He did not sign the warrants. 
Every now and then the Austrians bring him a man they 
have shot, just as a gamekeeper brings his master a fox he 
has killed in the preserves. 

Perhaps I shall be told that this government of priests is 
not responsible for the crimes committed in its service. 

"We French have also experienced the scourge of a foreign 
occupation. For some years soldiers who spoke not our 
language were encamped in our departments. The king 
who had been forced upon us was neither a great man nor a 
man of energy, nor even a very good man ; and he had left 
a portion of his dignity in the enemy's baggage- waggons. 
But certain it is that, in 1817, Louis XYIII. would rather 
have come down from his throne than have allowed his sub- 
jects to be legally shot by Russians and Prussians. 
6 



122 THE ROUAN QUESTION. 

M. de Kayneval says, " The Holy Father has never failed 
to mitigate the severity of judgments." 

I want to know in what way he has been enabled to mit- 
igate these Austrian fusillades. Perhaps he has suggested 
a coating of soft cotton for the bullets. 






CHAPTEK XIV. 

THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME. 

The Roman State is the most radically Catholic in Europe, 
seeing that it is governed by the Yicar of Jesus Christ him- 
self. It is also the most fertile in crimes of every descrip- 
tion, and above all, of violent crimes. So remarkable a con- 
trast cannot escape observation. It is pointed out daily. 
Conclusions unfavorable to Catholicism have even been drawn 
from it ; but this is a mistake. Let us not set down to re- 
ligion that which is the necessary consequence of a particular 
form of government. 

The Papacy has its root in Heaven, not in the country. 
It is not the Italian people who ask for a Pope, — it is Heaven 
that chooses him, the Sacred College that nominates him, dip- 
lomacy that maintains him, and the French army that im- 
poses him upon the nation. The Sovereign Pontiff and his 
staff constitute a foreign body, introduced into Italy like a 
thorn into a woodcutter's foot. 

"What is the mission of the Pontifical Government ? To 
what end did Europe bring Pius IX. from Gaeta to re-estab- 
lish him at the Vatican ? Was it for the sake of giving three 
millions of men an active and vigorous overseer ? The merest 
brigadier of gendarmerie would have done the work better. 
No ; it was in order that the Head of the Church might pre- 
side over the interests of religion from the elevation of a 
throne, and that the Vicar of Jesus Christ might be sur- 



124 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

rounded with royal splendour. The three millions of men 
who dwell in his States are appointed by Europe to defray 
the expenses of his court. In point of fact, we have given 
them to the Pope, not the Pope to them. 

On this understanding, the Pope's first duty is to say 
Mass at St. Peter's for 139,000,000 of Roman Catholics ; 
his second is to make a dignified appearance, to receive com- 
pany, to wear a crown, and to take care it does not fall off 
his head. But it is a matter of perfect indifference to him 
that his subjects brawl, rob, or murder one another, so long 
as they don't attack either his Church or his government. 

If we examine the question of the distribution of punish- 
ments in the Papal States from this point of view, we shall 
see that papal justice never strikes at random. 

The most unpardonable crimes in the eyes of the clergy 
are those which are offensive to Heaven. • Rome punishes 
sins. The tribunal of the Vicariate sends a blasphemer to 
the galleys, and claps into goal the silly fellow who refuses 
to take the Communion at Easter. Surely nobody will 
charge the Head of the Church with neglecting his duty. 

I have told you how the Pope defends and will continue 
to defend his crown, and I have no fear of your charging him 
with weakness. If Europe ventured to allege that he suffers 
the throne on which it has placed him to be shaken, the an- 
swer would be a list of the political exiles and the prisoners 
of state, present and past — the living and the dead. 

But the crimes and offences of which the natives are 
guilty towards one another affect the Pope and his Cardinals 
very remotely. What matters it to the successors of the 
Apostles that a few workmen and peasants should cut one 
another's throats after Sunday Vespers ? There will al- 
ways be enough of them left to pay the taxes. 

The people of Borne have long contracted some very bad 



THE IMPUISTITT OF EEAL CRIME. 125 

habits. They frequent taverns and wine-shops, and they 
quarrel over their liquor ; the word and the blow of other 
people is with them the word and the knife. The rural pop- 
ulation are as bad as the townspeople. Quarrels between 
neighbours and relatives are submitted to the adjudication 
of cold steel. Of course they would do better to go before 
the nearest magistrate ; but justice is slow in the States of 
the Church ; lawsuits cost money, and bribery is the order 
of the day ; the judges are either fools or knaves. So out 
with the knife ! its decisions are swift and sure. G-iacomo 
is down : 'tis clear he was in the wrong. Nicolo is unmo- 
lested : he must have been in the right. This little drama 
is performed more than four times a day in the Papal States, 
as is proved by the Government statistics of 1853. It is a 
great misfortune for the country, and a serious danger for 
Europe. The school of the knife, founded at Rome, estab- 
lishes branches in foreign lands. We have seen the holiest 
interests of civilization placed under the knife, and all the 
honest people in the world, the Pope himself included, shud- 
dered at the sight. 

It would cost his Holiness very little trouble to snatch 
the knife from the hands of his subjects. We don't ask him 
to begin over again the education of his people, which would 
take time, or even to increase the attractions of civil justice, 
so as to substitute litigants for assassins. All we require of 
him is, that he should allow criminal justice to dispose of 
some few of the worst characters who throng to these evil 
haunts. But this very natural remedy would be utterly 
repugnant to his notions. The tavern assassin is seldom a 
foe to the Government. 

Not that the Pope absolutely refuses to let assassins be 
pursued ; that would be opposed to the practice of all civi- 
lized countries. But he takes care that they shall always get 



12G THE ROHAN QUESTION. 

a good start of their pursuers. If they reach the banks of a 
river the pursuit ceases, lest they should jump into the water 
and be drowned without confession and absolution. If they 
seize hold of the skirts of a Capuchin Friar — they are saved. 
If they get into a church, a convent, or a hospital — saved 
again. If they do but set foot upon an ecclesiastical domain, 
or upon a clerical property (of which there is to the amount 
of £20,000,000 in the country), justice stands still, and lets 
them move on. A word from the Pope would reform this 
abuse of the right of asylum, which is a standing insult to 
civilization. On the contrary, he carefully preserves it, in 
order to show that the privileges of the Church are above 
the interests of humanity. This is both consistent and legal. 

Should the police get hold of a murderer by accident, 
and quite unintentionally, he is brought up for trial. Wit- 
nesses of the crime are sought, but never found. A citizen 
would consider himself dishonoured if he were to give up his 
comrade to the natural enemy of the nation. The murdered 
man himself, if he could be brought to life, would swear he 
had seen nothing of the affair. The Government is not strong 
enough to force the witnesses to say what they know, or to 
protect them against the consequences of their depositions. 
This is why the most flagrant crime can never be proved in 
the courts of justice. 

Supposing even that a murderer lets himself be taken, 
that witnesses give evidence against him, and that the crime 
be proved, even then the tribunal hesitates to pronounce the 
sentence of death. 

The shedding, of blood — legally — saddens a people ; the 
Government has no fault to find with the murderer, so he is 
sent to the galleys. He is pretty comfortable there ; public 
consideration follows him ; sooner or later he is certain to be 



THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME. 127 

pardoned, because the Pope, utterly indifferent to his crime, 
finds it more profitable, and less expensive, to turn him loose 
than to keep him. 

Put the worst possible case. Imagine a crime so glaring, 
so monstrous, so revolting, that the judges, who happen to 
be the least interested in the question, have been compelled 
to condemn the criminal to death. You probably imagine 
that, for example's sake, he will be executed while his crime 
is yet fresh in the popular recollection. Nothing of the sort. 
He is cast into a dungeon and forgotten ; they think it prob- 
able he will die naturally there. In the month of July, 
1858, the prison of the small town of Viterbo contained 
twenty-two criminals condemned to death, who were singing 
psalms while waiting for the executioner. 

At length this functionary arrives ; he selects one out of 
the lot and decapitates him. The populace is moved to 
compassion. Tears are shed, and the spectators cry out with 
one accord, "Poveretto ! " The fact is, his crime is ten 
years old. Nobody recollects what it was. He has expiated 
it by ten years of penitence. Ten years ago his execution 
would have conveyed a striking moral lesson. 

So much for the severity of penal justice. You would 
laugh if I were to speak of its leniency. The Duke Sforza 
Cesarini murders one of his servants for some act of personal 
disrespect. For example's sake, the Pope condemns him to 
a month's retirement in a convent. 

Ah ! if any sacrilegious hand were laid upon the holy ark ; 
if a priest were to be slain, a Cardinal only threatened, then 
would there be neither asylum, nor galleys, nor clemency, 
nor delay. Thirty years ago the murderer of a priest was 
hewn in pieces in the Piazza del Popolo. More recently, as 
we have seen, the idiot who brandished his fork in the face 
of Cardinal Antonelli, was beheaded. 



128 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

It is with highway robbery as with murder. I am in- 
duced to believe that the Pontifical court would not wage a 
very fierce war with the brigands, if those gentry undertook to 
respect its money and despatches. The occasional stopping 
of a few travellers, the clearing out of a carriage, and even 
the pillaging a country house, are neither religious nor 
political scourges. The brigands are not likely to scale 
either Heaven or the Yatican. 

Thus there is still good business to be done in this line, 
and particularly beyond the Apennines, in those provinces 
which Austria has disarmed and does not protect. The 
tribunal of Bologna faithfully described the state of the 
country in a sentence of the 16th of June, 1856. 

" Of late years this province has been afflicted by innu- 
merable crimes of all sorts : robbery, pillage, attacks upon 
houses, have occurred at all hours, and in all places. The 
numbers of the malefactors have been constantly increasing, 
as has their audacity, encouraged by impunity." 

Nothing is changed since the tribunal of Bologna spoke 
so forcibly. Stories, as improbable as they are true, are 
daily related in the country. The illustrious Passatore, who 
seized the entire population of Forlimpopoli in the theatre, 
has left successors. The audacious brigands who robbed a 
diligence in the very streets of Bologna, a few paces from 
the Austrian barracks, have not yet wholly disappeared. In 
the course of a tour of some weeks on the shores of the 
Adriatic, I heard more than one disquieting report. Near 
Rimini the house of a landed proprietor was besieged by a 
little army. In one place, all the inmates of the goal walked 
off, arm-in-arm with the turnkeys; in another a diligence 
came to grief just outside the walls of a city. If any par- 
ticular district was allowed to live in peace, it was because 
the inhabitants subscribed and paid a ransom to the brigands. 






THE IMPUNITY OF EEAL CRIME. 129 

Five times a week I used to meet the pontifical courier, 
escorted by an omnibus full of gendarmes, a sight which 
made me shrewdly suspect the country was not quite safe. 

But if the Government is too weak or too careless to un- 
dertake an expedition against brigandage, and to purge the 
country thoroughly, it sometimes avenges its insulted author- 
ity and its stolen money. When by chance the Judges of 
Instruction are sent into the field, they do not trifle with 
their work. Not only do they press the prisoners to confess 
their crimes, but they press them in a thumbscrew ! The 
tribunal of Bologna confessed this fact, with compunction, 
in 1856, alluding to the measures employed as violenti e 
feroci. 

But simple theft, innocent theft, the petty larceny of 
snuff-boxes and pocket-handkerchiefs, the theft which seeks 
a modest alms in a neighbour's pocket, is tolerated as pater- 
nally as mendicity. Official statistics give the number of 
the beggars in Borne, I believe, somewhat under the mark ; 
it is a pity they fail to give the number of pickpockets, who 
swarm through the city ; this might easily have been done, 
as their names are all known to the authorities. No attempt 
is made to interfere with their operations : the foreign visit- 
ors are rich enough to pay this small tax in favour of the 
national industry ; besides, it is not likely the pickpockets 
will ever make an attempt upon the Pope's pocket-hand- 
kerchief. 

A Frenchman once caught hold of an elegantly dressed 
gentleman in the act of snatching away his watch ; he took 
him to the nearest post, and placed him in the charge of the 
sergeant. " I believe your statement," said the official, 
" for I know the man well, and so would you, if you were 
not very new to the country. He is a Lombard ; but if we 
were to arrest all his fellows, our prisons would never be 
6* 



130 



THE EOMAN QUESTION. 



half large enough. Be off, my fine fellow, and take better 
care for the future ! " 

Another foreigner was robbed in the Corso at midnight, 
on his return from the theatre. All the consolation he got 
from the magistrate to whom he complained was, " Sir, you 
were out at an hour when all honest people should be in 
bed." 

A traveller was stopped between Rome and Civita 
Vecchia, and robbed of all the money he had about him. 
When he reached Palo, he laid his complaint before the 
political functionary who taxes travellers for the trouble of 
fumbling with their passports. The observation of this 
worthy man was, " What can you expect ? the people are so 
very poor ! " 

On the eve of the grand fêtes, however, all the riffraff 
are bound to go to prison, lest the religious ceremonies 
should be disturbed by evil-doers. They go of their own 
accord, as an amicable concession to a paternal government : 
and if any professional thief were by chance to absent him- 
self, he would be politely sent for about midnight. But in 
spite even of these vigilant measures, it is seldom that a 
Holy Week goes by without a watch or two going astray ; 
and to any complaint the police would be sure to reply : 
" You must not blame us ; we have taken every necessary 
precaution against such accidents. We have got all the 
thieves who are inscribed on our books under lock and key. 
For any new comers we are not responsible." 

The following incident occurred while I was at Rome ; 
it serves to illustrate the pleasing fraternal tie which unites 
the magistrates with the thieves. 

A former secretary to Monsignor Vardi, by name Berti, 
had a gold snuff-box, which he prized highly, it having been 
given him by his master. One day, crossing the Forum, he 



THE IMPUNITY OF EEAL CRIME. 131 

took out his snuff-box, just in front of the temple of An- 
toninus and Faustina, and solaced himself with a pinch of 
the contents. The incautious act had been marked by one 
of the pets of the police. He had hardly returned the box 
to his pocket ere he was hustled by some quoit-players, and 
knocked down. It is needless to add, that, when he got up, 
the precious snuff-box was gone. 

He mentioned the affair to a judge of his acquaintance, 
who at once told him to set his mind at rest, adding, " Pass 
through the Forum again to-morrow. Ask for Antonio; 
anybody will point him out to you ; tell him you come from 
me, and mention what you have lost. He will put you in 
the way of getting it back." 

Berti did as he was desired ; Antonio was soon found. 
He smiled meaningly when the judge's name was mentioned, 
protested that he could refuse him nothing, and immediately 
called out, " Eh ! Giacomo ! " 

Another bandit came out of the ruins, and ran up to his 
chief. 

" Who was on duty yesterday ? " asked Antonio. 

« Pepe." 

" Is he here ? " 

" No, he made a good day of it yesterday. He's drink- 
ing it out." 

" I can do nothing for your Excellency to-day," said 
Antonio. " Come here to-morrow at the same hour, and I 
think you'll have reason to be satisfied." 

Berti was punctual to the appointment. Signor Antonio, 
for fear of beiDg swindled, asked for an accurate description 
of the missing article. This having been given, he at once 
produced the snuff-box. " Your Excellency will please to 
pay me two scudi," he said ; "I should have charged you 



132 



THE BOMAN QUESTION. 



four, but that you are recommended to me by a magistrate 
whom I particularly esteem." 

It would appear that all the Roman magistrates are not 
equally estimable ; at least to judge from what happened to 
the Marquis de Sesmaisons. He was robbed of half-a-dozen 
silver spoons and forks. He imprudently lodged a com- 
plaint with the authorities. Being asked for an exact de- 
scription of the stolen articles, he sent the remaining half- 
dozen to speak for themselves to the magistrate who had 
charge of the affair. It is chronicled that he never again 
saw either the first or the second half-dozen ! 

The malversations of public functionaries are tolerated 
so long as they do not directly touch the higher powers. 
Officials of every degree hold out their hands for a present. 
The Government rather encourages the system than the 
reverse. It is just so much knocked off the salaries. 

The Government even overlooks embezzlement of public 
money, provided the guilty party be an ecclesiastic, or well 
affected to the present order of things. The errors of friends 
are judged en famille. If a Prelate make a mistake, he is 
reprimanded, and dismissed, which means that his situation 
is changed for a better one. 

Monsignor N — gets the holy house of Loretto into finan- 
cial trouble. The consequence is that Monsignor N — is re- 
moved to Rome, and placed at the head of the hospital of 
the Santo Spirito. Probably this is done because the latter 
establishment is richer and more difficult to get into financial 
trouble than the holy house of Loretto. 

Monsignor A — was an Auditor of the Rota, and made a 
bad judge. He was made a Prefect of Bologna. He failed 
to give satisfaction at Bologna, and was made a Minister, 
and still remains so. 

If occasionally officials of a certain rank are punished, if 



THE IMPUNITY OF BEAT, CRIME. 133 

even the law is put in force against them with unusual 
vigour, rest assured the public interest has no part in the 
business. The real springs of action are to be sought else- 
where. Take as an example the Campana affair, which cre- 
ated such a sensation in 1858. 

This unfortunate Marquis succeeded his father and his 
grandfather as Director of the Monte di Pietà, or public 
pawnbroking establishment. His office placed him immedi- 
ately under the control of the Finance Minister. It was 
that Minister's duty to overlook his acts, and to prevent him 
from going wrong. 

Campana went curiosity mad. The passion of collecting, 
which has proved the ruin of so many well-meaning people, 
drove him to his destruction. He bought pictures, marbles, 
bronzes, Etruscan vases. He heaped gallery on gallery. 
He bought at random everything that was offered to 'him. 
Rome never had such a terrible buyer. He bought as peo- 
ple drink, or take snuff, or smoke opium. When he had no 
more money of his own left to buy with, he began to think 
of a loan. The coffers of the Monte di Pietà were at hand : 
he would borrow of himself, upon the security of his collec- 
tion. The Finance Minister Galli offered no difficulties. 
Campana was in favour at Court, esteemed by the Pope, 
liked by the Cardinals ; his principles were known, he had 
proved his devotion to those in power. The Government 
never refuses its friends anything. In short Campana was 
allowed to lend himself £4,000, for which he gave security 
to a much larger amount. 

But the order by which the Minister gave him permission 
to draw from the coffers of the Monte di Pietà was so loose- 
ly drawn up, that he was enabled to take, without any fresh 
authority, a trifle of something like £106,000. This he took 



134 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

between the 12th of April, 1854, and the 1st of December, 
1856, a period of nineteen months and a half. 

There was no concealment in the transaction; it certain' 
ly was irregular, but it was not clandestine. Campana paid 
himself the interest of the money he had lent himself. In 
1856 he was paternally reprimanded. He received a gentle 
rap over the knuckles, but there was not the least idea of 
tying his hands. He stood well at Court. 

The unfortunate man still went on borrowing. They 
had not even taken the precaution to close his coffers against 
himself. Between the 1st of December, 1856, and the 7th 
of November, 1857, he took a further sum of about £103,000. 
But he gave grand parties ; the Cardinals adored him ; 
testimonies of satisfaction poured in upon him from all 
sides. 

The real truth is that a national pawnbroking establish- 
ment is of no use to the Church, it is only required for the 
nation. Campana might have borrowed the very walls of 
the building, without the Pontifical Court meddling in the 
matter. 

Unluckily for him, the time came when it answered the 
purpose of Antonelli to send him to the galleys. This great 
statesman had three objects to gain by such a course. 
Firstly, he would stop the mouth of diplomacy, and silence 
the foreign press, which both charged the Pope with tolerat- 
ing an abuse. Secondly, he would humiliate one of those 
laymen who take the liberty to rise in the world without 
wearing violet hose. Lastly, he should be able to bestow 
Campana's place upon one of his brothers, the worthy and 
interesting Filippo Antonelli. 

He took a long time to mature his scheme, and laid his 
train silently and secretly. He is not a man to take any 
svep inconsiderately. While Campana was going and com- 



THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME. 135 

ing, and giving dinners, and buying more statues, in blissful 
ignorance of the lowering storm, the Cardinal negotiated a 
loan at Rothschild's, made arrangements to cover the deficit, 
and instructed the Procuratore Fiscale to draw up an indict- 
ment for peculation. 

The accusation fell like a thunderbolt upon the poor 
Marquis. From his palace to his prison was but a step. 
As he entered there, he rubbed his eyes, and asked himself, 
ingenuously enough, whether this move was not all a horrible 
dream. He would have laughed at any one who had told 
him he was seriously in danger. He charged with pecula- 
tion ! Out upon it ! Peculation meant the clandestine ap- 
plication by a public officer of public funds to his private 
profit : whereas he had taken nothing clandestinely, and was 
ruined root and branch. So he quietly occupied himself in 
his prison by. writing sonnets, and when an artist came to 
pay him a visit, he gave him an order for a new work. 

In spite of the eloquent defence made in his behalf 
by a young advocate, the tribunal condemned him to twen- 
ty years' hard labour. At this rate, the Minister who had 
allowed him to borrow the money should certainly have 
been beheaded. But the lambs of the clergy don't eat one 
another. 

The advocate who had defended Campana was punished 
for having pleaded too eloquently, by being forbidden to 
practise in Court for three months. 

You may imagine that this cruel sentence cast a stigma 
upon Campana. Not a bit of it. The people, who have often 
experienced his generosity, regard him as a martyr. The 
middle class despises him much less than it does many a yet 
unpunished functionary. His old friends of the nobility and 
of the Sacred College often shake him by the hand. I have 



136 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

known Cardinal Tosti, at once his gaoler and his friend, 
let him have the use of his private kitchen. 

Condemnations are a dishonour only in countries where 
the judges are honoured. All the world knows that the 
pontifical magistrates are not instruments of justice, but tools 
of power. 



CHAPTER XV. 

TOLEEANCE. 

If crimes against Heaven are those which the Church 
forgives the least, every man who is not even nominally a 
Catholic, is of course in the eyes of the Pope a rogue and a 
half. 

These criminals are very numerous : the geographer 
Balbi enumerates some six hundred millions of them on the 
surface of the globe. The Pope continues to damn them 
all conformably with the tradition of the Church ; but he 
has given up levying armies to make war upon them here 
below. 

Things are improved when we daily find the Head of the 
Roman Catholic Church in friendly intercourse with the foes 
of his religion. He partakes of the liberality of a Mussulman 
Prince ; he receives a schismatic Empress as a loving father ; 
he converses familiarly with a Queen who has abjured Cath- 
olicism to marry a Protestant ; he receives with distinction 
the aristocracy of the New Jerusalem ; he sends his Major- 
domo to attend upon a young heretic prince* travelling in- 
cognito. I hardly know whether Gregory VII, would ap- 
prove this tolerance ; nor can I tell how it is judged in the 
other world by the instigators of the Crusades, or by the 

* H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 



138 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

advisers of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. For my own 
part, I should award it unbounded praise, if I could believe 
it took its source in a spirit of enlightenment and Christian 
charity. I should regard it differently, if I thought it 
was to be traced to calculations of policy and interest. 

The difficulty is to penetrate the secret thoughts of the 
Sovereign Pontiff; to find a key to the real motive of his 
tolerance. Natural mildness and interested mildness resem- 
ble each other in their effects, but differ widely in their 
causes. When the Pope and the Cardinals overwhelm M. 
de Rothschild with assurances of their highest consideration, 
are we to conclude that an Israelite is equal to a Roman 
Catholic in their eyes, as he is in yours or mine ? Or are 
we to conclude that they deem it expedient to mask their 
real sentiments because M. de Rothschild has millions to 
spare ? 

This delicate problem is not difficult to solve. We have 
but to seek out a Jew in Rome who is not the possessor of 
millions, and to ask him how he is considered and treated 
by the Popes. If the Government really make no difference 
between this citizen who is a Jew, and another who is a 
Catholic, I will say the Popes have become tolerant in 
earnest. If, on the contrary, we find that the administra- 
tion accords this poor Jew a social position somewhere be- 
tween man and the dog, then I am bound to set down 
the fine speeches made to M. de Rothschild, as proceeding 
from calculations of interest, and as inferring a sacrifice of 
dignity. 

Now mark, and judge for yourselves. There were Jews 
in Italy before there were Christians in the world. Roman 
polytheism, which tolerated everything except the kicks ad- 
ministered by Polyeucte to the statue of Jupiter, gave a 
place to the God of Israel. Afterwards came the Christians, 



TOLEKASTCE. 139 

and they were tolerated till they conspired against the laws 
They were often confounded with the Jews, because they 
came from the same corner of the East. Christianity in- 
creased by means of pious conspiracies ; enrolled slaves 
braved their masters, and became master in its turn. I 
don't blame it for practising reprisals, and cutting the 
pagans' throats; but in common justice it has killed too 
many Jews. 

Not at Rome. The Popes kept a specimen of the ac- 
cursed race to bring before God at the last judgment. The 
Scripture had warned the Jews that they should live misera- 
bly till the consummation of time. The Church, ever mind- 
ful of prophecy, undertook to keep them alive and miserable. 
She made enclosures for them, as we do in our Jardin des 
Plantes for rare animals. At first they were folded in the 
valley of Egeria, then they were penned in the Trastevere, 
and finally cribbed in the Ghetto. In the daytime they 
were allowed to go about the city, that the people might 
see what a dirty, degraded being a man is when he does 
not happen to be a Christian ; but when night came they 
were put under lock and key. The Ghetto used to close 
just as the Faithful were on their way to damnation at the 
theatre. 

On the occasion of certain solemnities the Municipal 
Council of Rome amused the populace with Jew races. 

When modern philosophy had somewhat softened Catho- 
lic manners, horses were substituted for Jews. The Senator 
of the city used annually to administer to them an official 
kick in the seat of honour : which token of respect they ac- 
knowledged by a payment of 800 scudi. At every accession 
of a Pope, they were obliged to range themselves under the 
Arch of Titus, and to offer the new Pontiff a Bible, in return 
for which he addressed to them an insulting observation. 



140 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

They paid a perpetual annuity of 450 scudi to the heirs of a 
renegade who had abused them. They paid the salary of a 
preacher charged to work at their conversion every Satur- 
day, and if they stayed away from the sermon they were 
fined. But they paid no taxes in the strict sense of the 
word, because they were not citizens. The law regarded 
them in the light of travellers at an inn. The license to 
dwell in Rome was provisional, and for many centuries it 
was renewed every year. Not. only were they without any 
political rights, but they were deprived of even the most 
elementary civil rights. They could neither possess prop- 
erty, nor engage in manufactures, nor cultivate the soil : 
they lived by botching and brokage. How they lived at all 
surprises me. Want, filth, and the infected atmosphere of 
their dens, had impoverished their blood, made them wan 
and haggard, and stamped disgrace upon their looks. Some 
of them scarcely retained the semblance of Jiumanity. They 
might have been taken for brutes ; yet they were notoriously 
intelligent, apt at business, resigned to their lot, good-tem- 
pered, kind-hearted, devoted to their families, and irre- 
proachable in their general conduct. 

V I need not add that the Roman rabble, bettering the in- 
struction of Catholic monks, spurned them, reviled them, 
and robbed them. The law forbade Christians to hold con- 
verse with them, but to steal anything from them was a 
work of grace. 

The law did not absolutely sanction the murder of a 
Jew ; but the tribunals regarded the murderer of a man in a 
different light from the murderer of a Jew. Mark the line 
of pleading that follows. 

" Why, Gentlemen, does the law severely punish mur- 
derers, and sometimes go the length of inflicting upon them 
the penalty of death ? Because he who murders a Christian 



TOLEKANCE. 141 

murders at once a body and a soul. He sends before the 
Sovereign Judge a being who is ill-prepared, who has not 
received absolution, and who falls straight into hell — or, at 
the very least, into purgatory. This is why murder — I 
mean the murder of a Christian — cannot be too severely 
punished. But as for us (counsel and client), what have we 
killed ? Nothing, Gentlemen, absolutely nothing but a 
wretched Jew, predestined for damnation. You know the 
obstinacy of his race, and you know that if he had been al- 
lowed a hundred years for his conversion, he would have 
died like a brute, without confession. I admit that we have 
advanced by some years the maturity of celestial justice ; we 
have hastened a little for him an eternity of torture which 
sooner or later must inevitably have been his lot. But be 
indulgent, Gentlemen, towards so venial an offence, and re- 
serve your severity for those who attempt the life and salva- 
tion of a Christian ! " 

This speech would be nonsense at Paris. It was sound 
logic at Rome, and, thanks to it, the murderer got off with a 
few months' imprisonment. 

You will ask why the Jews have not fled a hundred leagues 
from this Slough of Despond. The answer is, because they 
were born there. Moreover, the taxation is light, and rent 
is moderate. Add that, when famine. has been in the land, 
or the inundations of the Tiber. have spread ruin and devas- 
tation around, the scornful charity of the Popes has flung 
them some bones to gnaw. Then again, travelling costs 
money, and passports are not to be had for the asking in 
Rome. 

But if, by some miracle of industry, one of these unfor- 
tunate children of Israel has managed to accumulate a little 
money, his first thought has been to place his family beyond 
the reach of the insults of the Ghetto. He has realized his 



142 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

little fortune, and has gone to seek liberty and consideration 
in some less Catholic country. This accounts for the fact 
that the Ghetto was no richer at the accession of Pius IX. 
than it was in the worst days of the Middle Ages. 

History has made haste to write in letters of gold all the 
good deeds of the reigning Pope, and, above all, the enfran- 
chisement of the Jews. 

Pius IX. has removed the gates of the Ghetto. He al- 
lows the Jews to go about by night as well as by day, and to 
live where they like. He has exempted them from the mu- 
nicipal kick and the 800 scudi which it cost them. He has 
closed the little church where these poor people were cate- 
chized every Saturday, against their will, and at their own 
expense. His accession may be regarded, then, as an era of 
deliverance for the people of Israel who have set up their 
tents in Home. 

Europe, which sees things from afar, naturally supposes 
that under so tolerant a sway as that of Pius IX., Jews 
have thronged from all parts of the world into the Papal 
States. But see how paradoxical a science is that of statis- 
tics. From it we learn that in 1842, under Gregory XVI., 
during the captivity of Babylon, the little kingdom of the 
Pope contained 12,700 Jews. We further learn that in 1853, 
in the teeth of such reforms, such a shower of benefits, such 
justice, and such tolerance, the Israelites in the kingdom were 
reduced to 9,237. In other words, 3,463 Jews — more than 
a quarter of the Jewish population — had withdrawn from the 
paternal action of the Holy Father. 

Either this people is very ungrateful, or we don't know 
the whole state of the case. 

While I was at Borne, I had secret inquiries on the sub- 
ject made of two notables of the Ghetto. When the poor 
people heard the object I had in view in my inquiries, they 



TOLERAXCE. 143 

expressed great alarm. " For Heaven's sake don't pity us !" 
they cried. " Let not the outer world learn through your 
book that we are unfortunate — that the Pope shows by his 
acts how bitterly he regrets the benefits conferred upon us 
in 1847 — that the Ghetto is closed by doors invisible, but 
impassable — and that our condition is worse than ever ! All 
you say in our favour will turn against us, and that which 
you intend for our good will do us infinite harm." 

This is all the information I could obtain as to the treat- 
ment of this persecuted people. It is little enough, but it is 
something. I found that their Ghetto, in which some hidden 
power keeps them shut up just as in past times, was the foul- 
est and most neglected quarter of the city, whence I con- 
cluded that nothing was done for them by the municipality. 
I learnt that neither the Pope, nor the Cardinals, nor the 
Bishops, nor the least of the Prelates, could set foot on this 
accursed ground without contracting a moral stain — the cus- 
tom of Rome forbids it : and I thought of those Indian 
Pariahs whom a Brahmin cannot touch without losing caste. 
I learnt that the lowest places in the lowest of the public 
offices were inaccessible to Jews, neither more nor less than 
they would be to animals. A child of Israel might as well 
apply for the place of a copying-clerk at Rome as one of the 
giraffes in the Jardin des Plantes for the post of a Sous- 
Préfet. I ascertained that none of them are or can be land- 
owners, a fact which satisfies me that Pius IX. has not yet 
come quite to regard them as men. If one of their tribe cul- 
tivates another man's field, it is by smuggling himself into 
the occupation under a borrowed name ; as though the sweat 
of a Jew dishonoured the earth. Manufactures are forbid- 
den them, as of old; not being of the nation, they might in- 
jure the national industry. To conclude, I have observed 
them myself as they stood on the thresholds of their miser- 



144 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

able shops, and I can assure you they do not resemble a 
people freed from oppression. The seal of pontifical repro- 
bation is not removed from their foreheads. If, as history 
pretends, they had been liberated for the last twelve years, 
some sign of freedom would be perceptible on their counte- 
' nances. 

I am willing to admit that, at the commencement of his 
reign, Pius IX. experienced a generous impulse. But this 
is a country in which good is only done by immense efforts, 
while evil occurs naturally. I would liken it to a waggon 
being drawn up a steep mountain ascent. The joint efforts 
of four stout bullocks are required to drag it forward : it 
runs backwards by itself. 

Were I to tell you all that M. de Rothschild has done 
for his co-religionists at Rome, you would be astounded. Not 
only are they supported at his expense, but he never con- 
cludes a transaction with the Pope without introducing into 
it a secret article or two in their favour. And still the wag- 
gon goes backwards. 

The French occupation might be beneficial to the Jews. 
Our officers are not wanting in good will ; but the bad will 
of the priests neutralizes their efforts. By way of illustrat- 
ing the operation of these two influences, I will relate a 
little incident which recently occurred. 

An Israelite of Rome had hired some land in defiance of 
the law, under the name of a Christian. As everybody knew 
that the Jew was the real farmer, he was robbed right and 
left in the most unscrupulous manner, merely because he was 
a Jew. The poor man, foreseeing that before rent-day he 
should be completely ruined, applied for leave to have a 
guard sworn to protect his property. The authorities replied 
that under no pretext should a Christian be sworn in the 
service of a Jew. Disappointed in his application, he men- 



TOLEEAXCE. 145 

tioned the fact to some French officers, and asked for the 
assistance of the French Commander-in-Chief. It was read- 
ily promised by M. de Goyon, one of the kindest-hearted 
men alive, who undertook moreover to apply personally to 
the Cardinal in the matter. The reply he received from his 
Eminence was, " What you ask is nothing short of an impossi- 
bility. Nevertheless, as the Government of the Holy Father 
is unable to refuse you anything, we will do it. Not only 
shall your Jew have a sworn guard, but out of our affection 
for you, we will select him ourselves." 

Delighted at having done a good action, the General 
warmly thanked the Cardinal, and departed. Three months 
elapsed, and still no sworn guard made his appearance at the 
Jew's farm. The poor fellow, robbed more than ever, 
timidly applied again to the General, who once more took 
the field in his behalf. This time, in order to make the 
matter sure, he would not leave the Cardinal till he held in 
his own hand the permission, duly filled up and signed. The 
delighted Jew shed tears of gratitude as he read to his fam- 
ily the thrice-blessed name of the guard assigned to him. 
The name was that of a man who had disappeared six years 
back, and never been heard of since. 

"When the French officers next met the Jew, they asked 
him whether he was pleased with his sworn guard. He 
dared not say that he had no guard : the police had forbid- 
den him to complain. 

The Jews of Kome are the most unfortunate in the Papal 
States. The vicinity of the Vatican is as fatal to them 
as to the Christians. Far from the seat of government, 
beyond the Apennines, they are less vpoor, less oppressed, 
and less despised. The Israelitish population of Ancona is 
really a fine race. 

It is not to be inferred from this that the agents of the 



146 THE BOMAX QUESTION. 

Pope become converts to tolerance by crossing the Apen- 
nines. 

It is not a year since the Archbishop of Bologna confis- 
cated the boy Mortara for the good of the Convent of the 
Neophytes. 

Only two years ago the Prefect of Ancona revived the 
old law, which forbids Christians to converse publicly with 
Jews. 

It is not ten years since a merchant of considerable for- 
tune, named P. Cadova, was deprived of his wife and chil- 
dren by means as remarkable as those employed in the case 
of young Mortara, although the affair created less sensation 
at the time. 

M. P. Cadova lived at Cento, in the province of Ferrara. 
He had a pretty wife, and two children. His wife was se- 
duced by one of his clerks, who was a Catholic. The in- 
trigue being discovered, the clerk was driven from the house. 
The faithless wife soon joined her lover at Bologna, and took 
her children with her. 

The Jew applied to the courts of law to assist him in 
taking the children from the adulteress. 

The answer he received to his application was, that his 
wife and children had all three embraced Christianity, and 
had consequently ceased to be his family. 

The Courts further decreed that he should pay an annual 
income for their support. 

On this income the adulterous clerk also subsists. 

Some months later Monsignore Oppiszoni, Archbishop 
of Bologna, himself celebrated the marriage of M. P. Ca- 
dova's wife and M. P. Cadova's ex-clerk. 

Of course, you'll say, P. Cadova was dead. Not a bit 
of it. He was alive, and as well as a broken-hearted man 



TOLERANCE. 147 

could be. The Church, then, winked at a case of bigamy ? 
Not so. In the States of the Church a woman may be mar- 
ried at the same time to a Jew and a Catholic, without 
being a bigamist, because in the States of the Church a Jew 
is not a man. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 

All the world knows, and says over and over again, that 
education is less advanced in the Papal States than in any 
country in Europe. It is a source of universal regret that 
the -nation which is, perhaps, of all others the most intelli- 
gent by God's grace, should be the most ignorant by the will 
of priests. This people has been compared to a thorough- 
bred horse, reduced from racing to walking blindfolded, 
round and round, grinding corn. 

But people who talk thus take a partial view of the 
question. They don't, or they won't, see how entirely the 
development of public ignorance is in conformity with the 
principles of the Church, and how favourable it is to the 
maintenance of priestly government. 

Religions are founded, not upon knowledge, or science, 
but upon faith, or, as some term it, credulity. People have 
agreed to describe as an " act of faith " the operation of 
closing one's eyes in order to see better. It is by walking 
with faith,— in other words, with one's eyes shut, — that the 
gates of Paradise are reached. If we could take from afar 
the census of that locality, we should find there more of the 
illiterate than of the learned. A child that knows the 
catechism by heart is more pleasing in the sight of Heaven 
than all the five classes of the Institute. The Church will 



EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 149 

never hesitate between an astronomer and a Capuchin friar. 
Knowledge is full of dangers. Not only does it puff up the 
heart of inan, but it often shatters by the force of reasoning 
the best-constructed fables. Knowledge has made terrible 
havoc in the Roman Catholic Church during the last two or 
three hundred years. TVho can tell how many souls have 
been cast into hell through the invention of printing. 

Applied to the industrial pursuits of this sublunary 
sphere, science engenders riches, luxury, pleasure, health, 
and a thousand similar scourges, which tend td draw us away 
from salvation. Science cures even those irreligious mala- 
dies wherein religion used to recognize the finger of God. 
It no longer permits the sinner to make himself a purgatory 
here below. There is danger lest it should one of these days 
render man's terrestrial abode so blessed, that he may con- 
ceive an antipathy to Heaven. The Church, having the 
mission to conduct us to that eternal felicity which is the 
sole end of human existence, is bound to discourage our 
dealings with science. The utmost she can venture to do is 
to let a select number of her most trustworthy servants have 
free access to it, in order that the enemies of the faith may 
find somebody whom they can speak to. 

This is why I undertake to show you in Rome a dozen 
men of high literary and scientific acquirements, to a hun- 
dred thousand who don't know their ABC. 

The Church is but the more flourishing for it, and the 
State by no means the less so. The true shepherds of 
peoples, they who feed the sheep for the sake of selling the 
wool and the skins, do not want them to know too much. 
The mere fact of a man's being able to read makes him wish 
to meddle with everything. The custom-house may be made 
to keep him from reading dangerous books, but he'll be sure 
to take the change out of the laws of the kingdom. He'll 



150 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

begin to inquire whether they are good or "bad, whether they 
accord with or contradict one another, whether they are 
obeyed or broken. No sooner can he calculate without the 
help of his fingers, than he'll want to look up the figures of 
the Budget. But if he has reached the culminating point 
of knowing how to use his pen, the sight of the smallest bit 
of paper will give him a sort of political itching. He will 
experience an uncontrollable desire to express his sentiments 
as a man and a citizen, by voting for one representative, and 
against another. And, gracious goodness ! what will be- 
come of us if the refractory sheep should get as high as the 
generalities of history, or the speculations of philosophy ? — 
if he should begin to stir important questions, to inquire into 
great truths, to refute sophisms, to point out abuses, to de- 
mand rights ? The shepherd's occupation is assuredly not 
all roses from the day he finds it necessary to muzzle his 
flock. 

Sovereigns who are not Popes have nothing to fear from 
the progress of enlightenment, for their interest does not lie 
in the fabrication of saints, but in the making of men. In 
France, England, Piedmont, and some other countries, the 
Governments urge, or even oblige the people to seek instruc- 
tion. This is because a power which is based on reason has 
no fear of being discussed. Because the acts of a really 
national administration have no reason to dread the inquiry 
of the nation. Because it is not only a nobler but an easier 
task to govern reflecting beings than mere brutes, — always 
supposing the Government to be in the right. Because 
education softens men's manners, eradicates their evil instincts, 
reduces the average of crime, and simplifies the policeman's 
duty. Because science applied to manufactures will, in a 
few years, increase a hundredfold the prosperity of the na- 
tion, the wealth of the State, and the resources of power. 



EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 151 

Because the discoveries of pure science, good books, and all 
the higher productions of the mind, even when they are not 
sources of material profit, are an honour to a country, the 
splendour of an age, and the glory of a Sovereign. 

All the princes in Europe, with the single exception of 
the Pope, limit their views to the things of the earth ; and 
they do wisely. Without raising a doubt as to a future ex- 
istence in another and a better world, they govern their sub- 
jects only with regard to this life. They seek to obtain for 
them all the happiness of which man is capable here below ; 
they labour to render him as perfect as he can be as long as 
he retains this poor " mortal coil." We should regard them 
as mauvais plaisants if they were to think it their duty to 
make for us the trials of Job, while showing us a future 
prospect of eternal bliss. 

But the fact is that our emperors and kings and lay sov- 
ereigns are men with wives and children, personally interest- 
ed in the education of the rising generation, and the future 
of their people. A good Pope, on the contrary, has no other 
object but to gain Heaven himself, and to drag up a hundred 
and thirty millions of men after him. Thus it is that his 
subjects can with an ill grace ask of him those temporal ad- 
vantages which secular princes feel bound to offer their sub- 
jects spontaneously. 

In the Papal States the schools for the lower classes are 
both few and far between. The government does nothing to 
increase either their number or their usefulness, the parishes 
being obliged to maintain them; and even this source is 
sometimes cut off, for not unfrequently the minister disallows 
this heading in the municipal budget, and pockets the money 
himself. In addition to this, secondary teaching, excepting 
in the colleges, exists but in name ; and I should advise any 



152 THE EOilAN QUESTION. 

father who wishes his son's education to extend beyond the 
catechism, to send him into Piedmont. 

But on the other hand, I am bound to urge in the Pope's 
behalf that the colleges are numerous, well endowed, and 
provided with ample means for turning out mediocre priests. 
The monasteries devote themselves to the education of little 
monks. They are taught from an early age to hold a wax 
taper, wear a frock, cast down their eyes, and chant in Latin. 
If you wish to admire the foresight of the Church, you should 
see the procession of Corpus Christi day. All the convents 
walk in line one after the other, and each has its live nursery 
of little shavelings. Their bright Italian eyes, sparkling 
with intelligence, and their handsome open countenances, 
form a curious contrast with the stolid and hypocritical 
masks worn by their superiors. At one glance you behold 
the opening flowers and the ripe fruit of religion, — the 
present and the future. You think within yourselves that, 
in default of a miracle, the cherubs before you will ere long 
be turned into mummies. However, you console yourselves 
for the anticipated metamorphosis by the reflection that the 
salvation of the monklings is assured. 

All the Pope's subjects would be sure of getting to 
Heaven if they could all enter the cloisters ; but then the 
world would come to an end too soon. The Pope does his 
best to bring them near this state of monastic and ecclesiasti- 
cal perfection. Students are dressed like priests, and corpses 
also are arrayed in a sort of religious costume. The Brethren 
of the Christian Doctrine were thought dangerous because 
they dressed their little boys in caps, tunics, and belts ; so 
the Pope forbade them to go on teaching young Borne. The 
Bolognese (beyond the Apennines) founded by subscription 
asylums under the direction of lay female teachers. The 



EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 153 

clergy make most praiseworthy efforts to reform such an 
abuse. 

There is not a law, not a regulation, not a deed nor a 
word of the higher powers, which does not tend to the edifi- 
cation of the people, and to urge them on heavenward. 

Enter this church. A monk is preaching with fierce 
gesticulations. He is not in the pulpit, but he stands about 
twenty paces from it, on a plank hastily flung across trestles. 
Don't be afraid of his treating a question of temporal ethics 
after the fashion of our worldly preachers. He is dogmat- 
ically and furiously descanting on the Immaculate Concep- 
tion, on fasting in Lent, on avoiding meat of a Friday, on 
the doctrine of the Trinity, on the special nature of hell-fire. 

"Bethink you, my brethren, that if terrestrial fire, the 
fire created by God for your daily wants and your general 
use, can cause you such acute pain at the least contact with 
your flesh, how much more fierce and terrible must be that 
flame of hell-fire which ever devours without consuming those 
who . . . etc. etc." I spare you the rest. 

Our sacred orators for the most part confine themselves 
to preaching on such subjects as fidelity, to wives ; probity, 
to men ; obedience, to children. They descend to a level 
with a lay congregation, and endeavour to sow, each accord- 
ing to his powers, a little virtue on earth. Verily, Roman 
eloquence cares very much for virtue ! It is greatly troubled 
about the things of earth ! It takes the people by the 
shoulders and forces them into the paths of devotion, which 
lead straight to Heaven. And it does its duty, according to 
the teachings of the Church. 

Open one of the devotional books which are printed in 

the country. Here is one selected at random, ' The Life of 

St. Jacintha.' It lies on a young girl's work-table. A 

knitting-needle marks the place at which the gentle reader 

7* 



154 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

left off this morning. Let us turn to the passage. It is 
sure to be highly edifying. 

" Chapter V. — She casts from her heart all natural 
affection for her relations. 

" Knowing from the Redeemer himself that we ought not 
to love our relations more than God, and feeling herself 
naturally drawn towards hers, she feared lest such a love, 
although natural, if it should take root and grow in her 
heart, might in the course of time surpass or impede the love 
she owed to God, and render her unworthy of him. So she 
formed the very generous determination of casting from her- 
self all affection for the persons of her blood. 

" Resolved on conquering herself by this courageous de- 
termination, and on triumphing over opposing nature itself, — 
powerfully urged thereto by another word of Christ, who 
said that in order to go to him we must hate our relations, 
when the love we bear them stands in the way, — she went 
and solemnly performed a great act of renunciation before 
the altar of the most holy Sacrament. There, flinging her- 
self on her knees, her heart kindling with an ardent flame 
of charity towards God, she offered up to Him all the natural 
affections of her heart, more especially those which she felt 
were the strongest within her for the nearest and dearest of 
her relations. In this heroic action she obtained the inter- 
vention of the most holy Virgin, as may be seen by a letter 
in her handwriting addressed to a regular priest, wherein 
she promises, by the aid of the holy Yirgin, to attach herself 
no more either to her relations, or to any other earthly ob- 
ject. This renunciation was so resolutely courageous and so 
sincere that from that hour her brothers, sisters, nephews, and 
all her kindred became to her objects of total indifference ; 
and she deemed herself thenceforth so much an orphan and 
alone in the world, that she was enabled to see and converse 



EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 155 

with her aforesaid relations when they came to see her at 
the convent, as if they were persons utterly unknown to her. 

" She had made herself in Paradise an entirely spiritual 
family, selected from among the saints who had been the 
greatest sinners. Her father was St. Augustin ; her mother 
St. Mary the Egyptian ; her brother St. William the Her- 
mit, ex-Duke of Aquitaine ; her sister St. Margaret of Cor- 
tona ; her uncle St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles ; her 
nephews the three children of the furnace of Babylon. 5 ' 

Now here is a book that you, probably, attribute to the 
monkish ages ; a book expressing the isolated sentiments of 
a mind obscured by the gloom of the cloisters. 

In order to convince you of your error, I will give you 
its title and date, and the opinion concerning it expressed by 
the rulers of Rome. 

" Life of the Virgin Saint Jacintha Mariscotti, a pro- 
fessed Nun of the Third Order of the Seraphic Father St. 
Francis, written by the Father Flaminius Mary Hanibal of 
Latara, Brother Observant of the Order of the Minors. 
Borne, 1805. Published by Antonio Fulgoni, by permission 
of the Superiors. 

" Approbation. — The book is to the glory and honour of 
the Catholic Beligion and the illustrious Order of St. Fran- 
cis, and to the spiritual profit of those persons who desire to 
enter into the way of perfection. 

" Brother Thomas Mancini, of the Order of Preachers, 
Master, ex- Provincial, and Consultor of Sacred Bites. 

" Imprimatur. Brother Thomas Vincent Pani, of the 
Order of Preachers, Master of the Sacred Apostolical 
Palace." 

Now here we have a woman, a writer, a censor, and a 
Master of the Palace, who are ready to strangle the whole 



156 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

human race for the sake of hastening its arrival in Paradise. 
These people are only doing their duty. 

Just look out into the street. Four men of different 
ages are kneeling in the mud before a Madonna, whining out 
prayers. Presently, fifteen or twenty others come upon you, 
chanting a canticle to the glory of Mary. Perhaps you 
think they are yielding to a natural inspiration, and freely 
working out their salvation. I thought so myself, till I was 
told that they were paid fifteen-pence for thus edifying the 
bystanders. This comedy in the open air is subsidized by 
the Government. And the Government does its duty. 

The streets and roads swarm with beggars. Under lay 
governments the poor either receive succour in their own 
homes, or are admitted to houses of public charity ; they are 
not allowed to obstruct the public thoroughfares, and tyran- 
nize over the passengers. But we are in an ecclesiastical 
country. On the one hand, poverty is dear to God ; on the 
other, alms-giving is a deed of piety. If the Pope could 
make one half of his subjects hold out their hands, and the 
other half put a halfpenny into each extended palm, he 
would effect the salvation of an entire people. 

Mendicity, which lay sovereigns regard as an ugly sore 
in the State, to be healed, is tended and watered as a fair 
flower by a clerical government. Pray give something to 
yonder sham cripple ; give to that cadger who pretends to 
have lost an arm ; and be sure you don't forget that blind 
young man leaning on his father's arm ! A medical man of 
my acquaintance offered yesterday to restore his sight, by 
operating for the cataract. The father cried aloud with 
indignant horror at the proposal; the boy is a fortune to 
him. Drop an alms for the son into the father's bowl ; the 
Pope will let you into Paradise, of which he keeps the 
keys 



EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 157 

The Romans themselves are not duped by their beggars. 
They are too sharp to be taken in by these swindlers in mis- 
ery. Still they put their hands into their pockets; some 
from weakness or humanity, some from ostentation, some to 
gain Paradise. If you doubt my assertion, try an experi- 
ment which I once did, with considerable success. One 
night, between nine and ten o'clock, I begged all along the 
Corso. I was not disguised as a beggar. I was dressed 
as if I were on the Boulevards at Paris. Still, between the 
Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza di Yenezia, I made sixty- 
three baiocchi (about three shillings). If I were to try the 
same joke at Paris, the sergents-de-ville would very properly 
think it their duty to walk me off to the nearest police-sta- 
tion. The Pontifical Government encourages mendicity by 
the protection of its agents, and recommends it by the ex- 
ample of its friars. The Pontifical Government does its 
duty. 

Prostitution flourishes in Rome, and in all the large 
towns of the States of the Church. The police is too pater- 
nal to refuse the consolations of the flesh to three millions 
of persons out of whom five or six thousand have taken the 
vow of celibacy. But in proportion as it is indulgent to vice, 
it is severe in cases of scandal. It only allows light conduct 
in women when they are sheltered by the protection of a 
husband.* It casts the cloak of Japhet over the vices of 

* Leo XII. (out of his excessive regard for the interests of morality) 
occasionally departed from this rule. The same motive caused him to 
be very fond of what the profane call "gossip." He had a habit, too, of 
ascertaining by ocular demonstration, whether any incidents of more 
than ordinary interest in domestic life were passing in the palaces of his 
noble, or the houses of his citizen subjects. His medium for the attain- 
ment of this end was a powerful telescope, placed at one of his upper 
windows ! The principal minister to his gossiping propensities was one - 



158 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

the Romans, in order that the pleasures of one nation may 
not be a scandal to others. Rather than admit the existence 
of the evil, it refuses to place it under proper restraint : lay 
governments appear to sanction the social evil, when they 
place it under the control of the law. The clerical police 
is perfectly aware that its noble and wilful blindness exposes 
the health of an entire people to certain danger. But it 
rubs its hands at the reflection that the sinners are punished 
by the very sin itself. The clerical police does its duty. 

Captain C , a man of great learning, but doubtful morality, se- 
lected, of course, for the office of scandalous chronicler, from his ex- 
periences in what, in lay countries, the carnally-minded term " life." 
When, between his telescopic observations, and the reports of the Cap- 
tain, the Sovereign Pontiff had accumulated the requisite amount of 
evidence against any offending party, the mode of procedure was sudden, 
swift, and sure, fully bearing out the Author's assertion that in Eome 
the will of an individual is a substitute for the law of the State. There 
was no nonsense about Habeas Corpus, or jury, or recorded judgment. 
The supposed delinquent was simply seized (usually in the dead of the 
night, to avoid scandal), and hurried off to durance vile, to undergo, as 

it was phrased, prigione ed altrcpene a nostro arbitrio. One day C 

brought the Pope particulars of what was at once pronounced by his 
Holiness a most flagrant case. The wife of the highly respected and 

able Avocato B (a stout lady of fifty), who was at the same 

time legal adviser to the French Embassy, was in the habit of dri vino- 
out daily in the carriage, and by the side of the old bachelor Duke 

C , Exempt of the Noble Guard. The Papal decision on 

the case was instant. The act was of such frequent occurrence, so 
audaciously, so unblushingly public, that public morality demanded the 
strongest measures. That very night a descent was made upon the 
dwelling of the unconscious Avocato. The sanctity of the connubial 
chamber was invaded. The sleeping beauty of fifty was ordered to rise 

and was dragged off tc — the Convent of Repentant Females ! B 

knew, and none better, what manner of thing law was in Rome so in- 
stead of wasting time in reasoning with the Pope as to the legality of 
the case — urging the argument that, even supposing his wife to have 



EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 159 

The institution of the lottery is retained by the Popes, 
not as a source of revenue only. Lay governments have 
long since abolished it, because in a well-organized state, 
where industry leads to everything, citizens should be taught 
to rely upon nothing but their industry. But in the king- 
dom of the Church, where industry leads to nothing, not 
only is the lottery a consolation to the poor, but it forms an 
integral part of the public education. The sight of a beg- 
gar suddenly enriched, as it were by enchantment, goes far 
to make the ignorant multitude believe in miracles. The 
miracle of the loaves and fishes were scarcely more marvel- 
lous than the changing of tenpence into two hundred and 
fifty pounds. A high prize is like a present from God ; it 
is money falling from Heaven. This people know that no 
human power can oblige three particular numbers to come 
out together ; so they rely on the divine mercy alone. They 
apply to the Capuchin friars for lucky numbers ; they recite 
special prayers for so many days ; they humbly call for the 
inspiration of Heaven before going to bed; they see in 
dreams the Madonna stuck all over with figures ; they pay 
for masses at the Churches ; they offer the priest money if 
he will put three numbers under the chalice at the moment 
of the consecration. Not less humbly did the courtiers of 
Louis XIV. range themselves in the antechamber he was to 
pass through, in the hope of obtaining a look or a favour. 
The drawing of the lottery is public, as are the University 

been of a susceptible age and an attractive exterior, so long as he him- 
self made no objection to her driving out with the old Duke, nobody else 
had any right to interfere — and other similar appeals to common sense, 
he at once requested the interference of the French Ambassador. This 
was promptly and effectively given. The incarceration of the peccant 
dame was brief; and a shower of ridicule fell upon the Pontifical head. 
But the Sovereigns of Rome are accustomed to, and regardless of, such 
irreverent demonstrations. — Transl. 



160 



THE EOMAN QUESTION. 



lectures in France. And, verily, it is a great and salutary 
lesson. The winners learn to praise God for his bounties : 
the losers are punished for having unduly coveted worldly 
pelf. Everybody profits — most of all the Government, 
which makes £80,000 a year by it, besides the satisfaction of 
having done its duty. 

Yes, the holy preceptors of the nation fulfil their duty 
towards God, and towards themselves. But it does not ne- 
cessarily follow that they always manage the afiairs of God 
and of the Government well. 

" On rencontre sa destinée 
Souvent par les chemins qu'on prend pour l'éviter." 

La Fontaine tells us this, and the Pope proves it to us: 
In spite of the attention paid to religious instruction, the 
sermons, the good books, the edifying spectacles, the lottery, 
and so many other good things, faith is departing. The gen- 
eral aspect of the country does not betray the fact, because 
the fear of scandal pervades all society ; but the devil loses 
nothing by that. Perhaps the citizens have the greater dis- 
like to religion, from the very fact of its reigning over 
them. Our master is our enemy. God is too much the 
master of these people not to be treated by them in some 
degree as an enemy. 

The spirit of opposition is called atheism, where the 
Tuileries are called the Vatican. A young ragamuffin, who 
drove me from Kimini to Santa Maria, let slip a terrible ex- 
pression, which I have often thought of since : " God ? " — 
he said, " if there be one, I dare say he's a priest like the 
rest of 'em." 

Reflect upon these words, reader ! When I examine 
them closely, I start back in terror, as before those crevices 
of Vesuvius, which give you a glimpse of the abyss below. 

Has the temporal power served its own interests better 



EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 1G1 

than it has those of God ? I doubt it. The deputation of 
Rome was Red in 1848. It was Rome that chose Mazzini. 
It is Rome that stilt regrets him in the low haunts of the 
Regola, on that miry bank of the Tiber, where secret socie- 
ties swarm at this moment, like gnats on the shores of the 
Nile. 

If these deplorable fruits of a model education were 
pointed out to the philosopher Gavarni, he would probably 
exclaim, " Bring up nations, in order that they may hate 
and despise you ! " 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FOEEIGN OCCUPATION. 

The Pope is loved and revered in all Catholic countries — 
except his own. 

It is, therefore, perfectly just and natural that one hun- 
dred and thirty-nine millions of devoted and respectful men 
should render him assistance against three millions of discon- 
tented ones. It is not enough to have given him a temporal 
kingdom, or to have restored that kingdom to him when he 
had the misfortune to lose it ; one must lend him a permanent 
support, unless the expense of a fresh restoration is to he 
incurred every year. 

This is the principle of the foreign occupation. We are 
one hundred and thirty-nine millions of Catholics, who have 
violently delegated to three millions of Italians the honour 
of hoarding and lodging our spiritual chief. If we were not 
to leave a respectable army in Italy to watch over the exe- 
cution of our commands, we should be doing our work by 
halves. 

In strict logic, the security of the Pope should be guaran- 
teed at the common expense of the Catholic Powers. It 
seems quite natural that each nation interested in the oppres- 
sion of the Romans should furnish its contingent of soldiers. 
Such a system, however, would have the effect of turning 
the castle of St. Angelo into another Tower of Babel. Besides, 



FOREIGN OCCUPATION. 163 

the affairs of this world are not all regulated according to 
the principles of logic. 

The only three Powers which contributed to the re-estab- 
lishnient of Pius IX. were France, Austria, and Spain. The 
French besieged Rome ; the Austrians seized the places of 
the Adriatic ; the Spaniards did very little, not from the want 
either of goodwill or courage, but because their allies left 
them nothing to do. 

If a private individual may be permitted to probe the 
motives upon which princes act, I would venture to suggest 
that the Queen of Spain had nothing in view but the interests 
of the Church. Her soldiers came to restore the Pope to his 
throne; they went as soon as he was reseated on it. This 
was a chivalrous policy. 

Napoleon III. also considered the restoration of the Pope 
to a temporal throne necessary to the good of the Church. 
Perhaps he thinks so still — though I couldn't swear to it. 
But his motives of action were complicated. Simple Presi- 
dent of the French Ptepublic, heir to a name which summoned 
him to the throne, resolved to exchange his temporary magis- 
tracy for an imperial crown, he had the greatest possible 
interest in proving to Europe how republics are put down. 
He had already conceived the idea of playing that great part 
of champion of order, which has since caused him to be re- 
ceived by all Sovereigns first as a brother, and afterwards as 
an arbitrator. Lastly, he knew that the restoration of the 
Pope would secure him a million of Catholic votes towards 
his election to the imperial crown. But to these motives of 
personal interest were added some others, if possible, of a 
loftier character. The heir of Napoleon and of the liberal 
Revolution of '89, the man who read his own name on the 
first page of the civil code, the author of so many works 
breathing the spirit of new ideas and the passionate love of 



164 



THE BOM AN QUESTION. 



progress, the silent dreamer whose busy brain already teemed 
with the germs of all the prosperity we have enjoyed for the 
last ten years, was incapable of handing over three millions 
of Italians to reaction, lawlessness, and misery. If he had 
firmly resolved to put down the Republic at Eome, he was 
not less firm in his resolution to suppress the abuses, the 
injustice, and all the traditional oppressions which drove the 
Italians to revolt. In the opinion of the head of the French 
Republic, the way to be again victorious over anarchy, 
was to deprive it of all pretext and all cause for its exist- 
ence. 

He knew Eome ; he had lived there. He knew, from 
personal experience, in what the Papal government differed 
from good governments. His natural sense of justice urged 
him to give the subjects of the Holy Father, in exchange for 
the political autonomy of which he robbed them, all the civil 
liberties and all the inoffensive rights enjoyed in civilized 
States. 

On the 18th of August, 1849, he addressed to M. Edgar 
Ney a letter, which was, in point of fact, a mémorandum ad- 
dressed to the Pope. Amnesty, Secularization, the Code 
Napoleon, a Liberal Government : these were the gifts he 
promised to the Romans in exchange for the Republic, and 
demanded of the Pope in return for a crown. This pro- 
gramme contained, in half-a-dozen words, a great lesson to 
the sovereign, and a great consolation to the people. 

But it is easier to introduce a Breguet spring into a 
watch made when Henri IV. was king, than a single reform 
into the old pontifical machine. The letter of the 18th of 
August was received by the friends of the Pope as an " in- 
sult to his rights, good sense, justice, and majesty ! " * Pius 



* Louis Veuillot, article of the 10th of September, 1849. 



FOREIGN OCCUPATION. 165 

IX. took offence at it ; the Cardinals made a joke of it. This 
determination, this prudence, this justice, on the part of a 
man who held them all in his hand, appeared to them im- 
measurably comical. They still laugh at it. Don't name 
JVI. Edgar Ney before them, or you'll make them laugh till 
their sides ache. 

The Emperor of Austria never committed the indiscretion 
of writing such a letter as that of the 18th of August. The 
fact is, the Austrian policy in Italy differs materially from 
ours. 

France is a body very solid, very compact, very firm, very 
united, which has no fear of being encroached upon, and no 
desire to encroach on others. Her political frontiers are 
nearly her natural limits ; she has little or nothing to conquer 
from her neighbours. She can, therefore, interfere in the 
events of Europe for purely moral interests, without views 
of conquest being attributed to her. One or two of her lead- 
ers have suffered themselves to be carried somewhat too far 
by the spirit of adventure ; the nation has never had, what 
may be called, geographical ambition. France does not dis- 
dain to conquer the world by the dispersion of her ideas, but 
she desires nothing more. That which constitutes the beauty 
of our history, to those who take* an elevated view of it, is 
the twofold object, pursued simultaneously by the Sovereign 
and the nation, of concentrating France, and spreading French 
ideas. 

The old Austrian diplomacy has been, for the last six 
hundred years, incessantly occupied in stitching together bits 
of material, without ever having been able to make a coat. 
It does not consider either the colour or the quality of the 
cloth, but always keeps the needle going. The thread it 
uses is often white, and it not infrequently breaks — when 
away goes the new patch ! Then another has to be found. 



166 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

A province is detached — two more are laid hold of. The 
piece gets rent down the middle — a rag is caught up, then 
another, and whatever comes to hand is sewn together in 
breathless haste. The effect of this stitching monomania has 
been, to keep constantly changing the map of Europe, to 
bring together, as chance willed it, races and religions of 
every pattern, and to trouble the existence of twenty peoples, 
without making the unity of a nation. Certain Machiavellic 
old gentlemen sitting round a green cloth at Vienna, direct 
this work, measure the material, rub their hands compla- 
cently when it stretches, snatch off their wigs in despair when 
a piece is torn, and look on all sides for another wherewith 
to replace it. In the Middle Ages, the sons of the house 
used to be sent to visit foreign princesses : they made love 
to their royal and serene highnesses in G-erman, and always 
brought back with them some shred of territory. But now 
that princesses receive their dowers in hard cash, recourse is 
had to violent measures in order to procure pieces of mate- 
rial ; they are seized by soldiers ; and there are some large 
stains of blood upon this harlequin's cloak ! 

Almost all the states of Italy, the kingdom of Naples, 
Sardinia, Sicily, Modena, Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, 
have been in turn stitch^, to the same piece as Bohemia, 
Transylvania, and Croatia. Rome would have shared the 
same fate, if papal excommunications had not broken the 
thread. In 1859 it is Venice and Milan that pay for every- 
body, till it comes to the turn of Tuscany, Modena, and 
Massa, to be patched on in virtue of certain reversionary 
rights. 

What must have been the satisfaction of Austrian 
diplomatists when they were enabled to throw their troops 
into the kingdom of the Pope, without remonstrances from 
anybody ! Beyond all doubt, the interests of the Church 



FOREIGN OCCUPATION. 167 

were those which least occupied them. And as for taking 
any interest in the unfortunate subjects of Pius IX., or de- 
manding for them any rights, or any liberties, Austria never 
thought of it for a moment. The old Danaïde only saw an 
opportunity for pouring another people into her ill-made and 
unretentive cask. 

While the French army cautiously cannonaded the 
capital of the arts, spared public monuments, and took Rome, 
so to speak, with gloved hands, the Austrian soldiers carried 
the beautiful cities of the Adriatic — à la Croate ! As vic- 
tors, we treated gently those we had conquered, from motives 
of humanity; Austria, those she had conquered, brutally, 
from motives of conquest. She regarded the fair country of 
the Legations and the Marches as another Lombardy, which 
she would be well disposed to J^eep. 

We occupied Rome, and the port of Civita Vecchia ; the 
Austrians took for themselves all the country towards the 
Adriatic. We established our quarters in the barracks 
assigned to us by the municipality ; the Austrians built com- 
plete fortresses, as is their practice, with the money of the 
people they were oppressing. For six or seven years their 
army lived at the expense of the country. They sent their 
regiments naked, and when poor Italy had clothed them, 
others came to replace them. 

Their army wafiooked upon with no very favourable eye ; 
neither indeed was ours : the radical party was opposed both 
to their presence and ours. Some stray soldiers of both 
armies were killed. The French army defended itself cour- 
teously, the Austrian army revenged itself. In three years, 
from the first of January, 1850, to the 1st of January, 1853, 
we shot three murderers. Austria has a heavier hand : she 
has executed not only criminals, but thoughtless, and even 



168 THE EOilAX QUESTION. 

innocent people. I have already given some terrible figures, 
and will spare you their repetition. 

From the day when the Pope condescended to return 
home, the French army withdrew into the background ; it 
hastened to restore to the pontifical government all its powers. 
Austria has only restored what it could not keep. She even 
still undertakes to repress political crimes. She feels per- 
sonally wronged if a cracker is let off, if a musket is con- 
cealed : in short, she fancies herself in Lombardy. 

At Rome, the French place themselves at the disposal of 
the Pope for the maintenance of order and public security. 
Our soldiers have too much honesty to let a murderer or a 
thief who is within their reach escape. The Austrians pre- 
tend that they are not gendarmes, to arrest malefactors ; 
each individual soldier considers himself the agent of the old 
diplomatists, charged with none but political functions : 
police matters are not within his province. What is the 
consequence ? The Austrian army, after carefully disarm- 
ing the citizens, delivers them over to malefactors, without 
the means of protection. 

At Bologna, a merchant of the name of Yincenzio Bedini 
was pointed out to me, who had been robbed in his ware- 
house at six o'clock in the evening. An Austrian sentinel 
was on guard at his door. 

Austria has good reasons for encouraging disorders in 
the provinces she occupies : the greater the frequency of crime, 
and the difficulty of governing the people, the greater is the 
necessity for the presence of an Austrian army. Every 
murder, every theft, every burglary, every assault, tends to 
strike the roots of these old diplomatists more deep into the 
kingdom of the Pope. 

France would rejoice to be able to recall her troops. 
She feels that their presence at Borne is not a normal state 



FOKEIGN OCCUPATION. 169 

of things : she is herself more shocked than anybody else at 
this irregularity. She has reduced, as much as possible, the 
effective force of her occupying army ; she would embark her 
remaining regiments, were she not aware that to do so would 
be to deliver the Pope over to the executioner. Mark the 
extent to which she carries her disinterestedness in the affairs 
of Italy. In order to place the Holy Father in a condition 
to defend himself alone, she is trying to create for him a na- 
tional army. The Pope possesses at the present time four 
regiments of French manufacture ; if they are not very good, 
or rather, not to be relied upon, it is not the fault of the 
French. The priestly government has itself alone to blame. 
Our generals have done all in their power, not only to drill 
the Pope's soldiers, but to inspire them with that military 
spirit which the Cardinals carefully endeavour to stifle. Is 
it likely that we shall find the Austrian army seeking to 
render its presence needless, and spontaneously returning 
home ? 

And yet I must admit, with a certain shame, that the 
conduct of the Austrians is more logical than ours. They 
entered the Pope's dominions, meaning to stay there ; they 
spare no pains to assure their conquest in them. They 
decimate the population, in order that they may be *feared. 
They perpetuate disorder, in order that their permanent pres- 
ence may be required. Disorder and terror are Austria's 
best arms. 

As for us, let us see what we have done. In the interest 
of France, nothing ; and I am glad of it. In the interest of 
the Pope, very little. In the interest of the Italian nation, 
still less. 

The Pope promised us the reform of some abuses, in his 
Motu Proprio of Portici. It was not quite what we de- 
manded of him ; still his promises afforded us some gratifica- 
8 



170 THE KOMAT? QUESTION. 

tion He returned to his capital, to elude their fulfilment at 
his ease. Our soldiers awaited him with arms in their hands. 
They fell at his feet as he passed them. 

During nine consecutive years, the pontifical government 
has been retreating step by step, — France, all the while, 
politely entreating it to move on a little. Why should it 
follow our advice ? What necessity was there for yielding 
to our arguments ? Our soldiers continued to mount guard, 
to present arms, to fall down on one knee, and patrol regu- 
larly round all the old abuses. 

In the end, the pertinacity with which we urged our good 
counsels became disagreeable to his Holiness. His retro- 
grade court has a horror of us ; it prefers the Austrians, who 
crush the people, but who never talk of liberty. The Cardi- 
nals say, sometimes in a whisper, sometimes even aloud, that 
they don't want our army, that we are very much in their 
way, and that they could protect themselves — with the as- 
sistance of a few Austrian reoïraents. 

The nation, that is the middle class, says, our good-will, 
of which it has no doubt, is of little use to it ; and declares 
it would undertake to obtain all its rights, to secularize the 
government, to proclaim the amnesty, to introduce the Code 
Napoléon, and to establish liberal institutions, if we would 
but withdraw our soldiers. This is what it says at Rome. 
At Bologna, Ferrara, and Ancona, it believes that, in spite 
of everything, the Romans are glad to have us, because, al- 
though we let evil be done, we never do it ourselves. In 
this we are admitted to be better than the Austrians. 

Our soldiers say nothing. Troops don't argue under 
arms. Let me speak for them. 

" We are not here to support the injustice and dishonesty 
of a petty government that would not be tolerated for twenty- 
four hours with us. If we were, we must change the eagle 



FOREIGN OCCUPATION. 1*71 

on our flags for a crow. The Emperor cannot desire the 
misery of a people, and the shame of his soldiers. He has 
his own notions. But if, in the meantime, these poor devils 
of Romans were to rise in insurrection, in the hope of ob- 
taining the Secularization, the Amnesty, the Code, and the 
Liberal Government, which we have taught them to expect, 
we should inevitably be obliged to shoot them down." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

WHY THE POPE WILL HEYEE HATE SOLDIEES. 

I paid a visit to a Roman Prelate well known for his devo- 
tion to the interests of the Church, the temporal power of 
the Popes, and the august person of the Holy Father. 

When I was introduced to his oratory I found him read- 
ing over the proof-sheets of a thick volume, entitled ADMIN- 
ISTRATION OF THE MILITARY FORCES. 

He threw down his pen with an air of discouragement, 
and showed me the two following quotations which he had 
inscribed on the title-page of the book : 

" Every independent State should suffice to itself, and 
assure its internal security by its own forces." — Count de 
Bayneval, note of 14dh May, 1855. 

11 The troops of the Pope will always be the troops of the 
Pope. What are warriors who have never made war ? " — 
De Brosses. 

After I had reflected a little upon these not very 
consoling passages, the Prelate said, " You have not 
been very long at Rome, and your impressions ought to 
be just, because they are fresh. What do you think of 
our Romans ? Do the descendants of Marius appear to 
you a race without courage, incapable of confronting 
danger ? If it be indeed true that the nation has retain- 
ed nothing of its patrimony, not even its physical courage, 



WHY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAYE SOLDIERS. 173 

all our efforts to create a national force in Home are fore- 
doomed to failure. The Popes must for ever remain disarm- 
ed in the presence of their enemies. Nothing is left for 
them but to entrench themselves behind the mercenary 
courage of a Swiss garrison or the respectful protection of a 
great Catholic power. What becomes of independence ? 
What becomes of sovereignty ?" • 

" Monsignore,' 1 I replied, " I already know the Romans 
too well to judge them by the calumnies of their enemies. 
I daily see with what intemperate courage this violent and 
hot-blooded people gives and receives death. I know the 
esteem expressed by Napoleon I. for the regiments he raised 
here. And we can say between ourselves that there were 
many of the subjects of the Pope in the revolutionary army 
which defended Rome against the French. I am persuaded, 
then, that the Holy Father has no need to go abroad to find 
men, and that a few years would serve to make these men 
good soldiers. What is much less evident to me is the real 
necessity for having a Roman army. Does the Pope want 
to aggrandise himself by war ? No. Does he fear lest 
some enemy should invade his States ? Certainly not. He 
is better protected by the veneration of Europe than by a 
line of fortresses. If, by a scarcely possible eventuality, 
any difference were to arise between the Holy See and an 
Italian Monarchy, the Pope has the means of resistance at 
hand, without striking a blow ; for he counts more sol- 
diers in Piedmont, in Tuscany, and in the Two Sicilies, 
than the Neapolitans, the Tuscans, and the Piedmontese 
would well know how to send against him. So much for 
the exterior ; and the situation is so clear, that your Min- 
istry of War assumes the modest and Christian title of 
' the Ministry of Arms.' As for the interior, a good gen- 
darmerie is all you want. 1 



174 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

" Eh ! my dear son," cried the Prelate, " we ask nothing 
better. A people which is never destined to make war does 
not want an army, but it ought to keep on foot the forces 
necessary for the maintenance of the public peace. An 
army of police and internal security is what we have been 
endeavouring to create since 1849. Have we succeeded ? 
Do we suffice for ourselves ? Are we in a position to ensure 
our tranquillity by our own forces ? No ! no ! certainly not." 

" Pardon me, Monsignore, if I think you a little severe. 
During the three months I have loitered as an observer in 
Rome, I have had time to see the pontifical army. Your 
soldiers are fine-looking men, their general appearance is 
good, they have a martial air, and, as far as I can judge, 
they go through their manœuvres pretty well. It would be 
difficult to recognize in them the old soldier of the Pope, the 
fabulous personage whose duty it was to escort processions, 
and to fire off the cannon on firework nights ; the well-to-do 
citizen in uniform who, if the weather looked threatening, 
mounted guard with an umbrella. The Holy Father's army 
would present a good appearance in any country in the 
world ; and there are some of your soldiers whom — at a 
little distance — I should take for our own." 

" Yes," he said, " their appearance is good enough, and 
if factions could be kept down by mere appearances, I should 
feel tolerably easy. But I know many things respecting the 
army that make me very uncomfortable — and yet I don't 
know all. I know there is great difficulty in recruiting not 
only soldiers, but officers ; that young men of good family 
scorn to command, and ploughboys to serve, in our army. 
I know that more than one mother would rather see her son 
at the hulks than with the regiment. I know that our sol- 
diers, for the most part drawn from the dregs of the people, 
have neither confidence in their comrades, nor respect for 



WHY TUE POPE WILL NEVEK HAVE SOLDIERS. 175 

their officers, nor veneration for their colours. You would 
vainly look to find among them devotion to their country, 
fidelity to their sovereign, and all those high and soldierly 
virtues which make a man die at his post. To the greater 
number the laws of duty and honour are a dead letter. I 
know that the gendarme does not always respect private 
property. I know that the factions, rely at least much as 
we ourselves do on the support of the army. What good is 
it to us to have fourteen or fifteen thousand men on foot, 
and to spend some millions of scudi annually, if after such 
efforts and sacrifices, foreign protection is now more neces- 
sary to us than it was the first day ? " 

" Monsignore," I replied, "you place things in the worst 
light, and you judge the situation somewhat after the manner 
of the Prophet Jeremiah. The Holy Father has several ex- 
cellent officers, both in the special corps and in the regi- 
ments of the line ; and you have also some good soldiers. 
Our officers, who are competent men, render justice to yours, 
both as regards their intelligence and their goodwill. If I 
am astonished at anything, it is that the pontifical army has 
made so much progress as it has in the deplorable conditions 
in which it is placed. We can discuss it freely because the 
whole system is under examination, and about to be reor- 
ganized by the Head "of the State. You complain that 
young gentlemen of good family do not throng to the Col- 
lege of Cadets in the hope of gaining an epaulette. But you 
forget how little the epaulette is honoured among you. The 
officer has no rank in the state. It is a settled point that a 
deacon shall have precedence of a sub-deacon ; but the law 
and custom of Rome do not allow a Colonel to take prece- 
dence even of a man having the simple tonsure. Pray, what 
position do you assign to your Generals ? W'hat is their 
rank in the hierarchy ? " 



176 THE EOMAN QUESTIOX. 

" Instead of haying our Generals in the army, we have 
them at the head of the religious orders. Imagine the sen- 
sations of the G-eneral of the Jesuits at hearing a soldier 
announced by the honourable ecclesiastical title of Gen- 
eral ! " 

" "Well ! there's something in that." 

" In order to have commanders for our troops, without 
at the same time creating personages of too much importance, 
we hare imported three foreign Colonels, who are permitted 
to perform the functions of General. They even appear in 
the disguise of Generals, but they will never have the au- 
dacity to assume the title." 

" Capital ! "Well, now with us there is not a scamp of 
eighteen who would engage in the army if he were told that 
he might become a Colonel, but never a General ; or even a 
General, but never a Marshal of France. Who, or what, 
could induce a man to rush into a career in which there is 
at a certain point an impassable barrier ? You regret that 
all your officers are not savants. I admit that they have 
learnt something. They enter the College without compe- 
tition or preliminary examination, sometimes without orthog- 
raphy or arithmetic. The first inspection made by our Gen- 
erals discovers future lieutenants who cannot do a sum in 
division, a French class without either a master or pupils, 
and an historical class in which, after seven months of teach" 
ing, the professor is still theologically expounding the crea- 
tion of the world. It must indeed be a powerful spirit of 
emulation which can induce these young men to make them- 
selves capable of keeping up a conversation with French 
officers. You are astonished that they allow the discipline 
of their men to become somewhat relaxed. Why, discipline 
is about the last thing they have been taught. In the time 
of Gregory XYI. an officer refused to allow a Cardinal's 



WHY THE POPE WILL NEVEE HAVE SOLDIEES. 177 

carriage to pass down a certain street. Such were his 
orders. The coachman drove on, and tl>3 officer was sent to 
the castle of St. Angelo, for having done his duty. A single 
instance of this sort is quite enough to demoralize an army. 
But the King of Naples shows the Pope his mistake. He 
had a sentry mentioned in the order of the day, for giving a 
bishop's coachman a cut with his sword. You are scandal- 
ized because certain military administrators curtail the sol- 
diers' poor allowance of bread ; but they have never been 
told that peculation will be punished by dismissal," 

" Well, the scheme of reorganization is in hand 5 you will 
see a new order of things in 1859." 

" I am glad to hear it, Monsignore ; and I will answer 
for it that a judicious, well-considered reform — slowly pro- 
gressive, of course, as everything is at Rome — will produce 
excellent results in a few years. It is not in a day that you 
can expect to change the face of things ; but you know the 
gardener is not discouraged by the certainty that the tree he 
plants to-day will not produce fruit for the next five years, 
The morals of your soldiers are, as you say, none of the best : 
I hear it said everywhere that an honest peasant thinks it a 
dishonour to wear your uniform. When you can hold out a 
future to your men, you need no longer recruit them from 
the dregs of the population. The soldier will have some 
feeling of personal dignity when he ceases to find himself ex- 
posed to contempt. These poor fellows are looked down 
upon by everybody, even by the servants of small families. 
They breathe an atmosphere of scorn, which may be termed 
the malaria of honour. Relieve them, Monsignore ; they 
ask nothing better." 

" Do you think, then, the means are to be found of giving 
us an army as proud and as faithful as the French army ? 
8* 



178 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

That were a secret for which the Cardinal would pay a high 
price." 

" I offer it to you for nothing, Monsignore. France has 
always been the most military country in Europe ; but in 
the last century the French soldier was no better than yours. 
The officers are pretty much the same, with this difference 
only, — that formerly the King selected them from the nobili- 
ty, whereas now they ennoble themselves by zeal and courage. 
But a hundred years ago the soldiery, properly so called, 
consisted in France of what it now does with you — the scum 
of the population. Picked up in low taverns, between a heap 
of crown-pieces and a glass of brandy, the soldier made him- 
self more dreaded by the peasantry than by the enemy. He 
seemed to be overpowered beneath the weight of the scorn 
of the country at large, the meanness of his present condition, 
and the impossibility of future promotion ; and he revenged 
himself by forays upon the cellar and the farmyard. He 
had his place among the scourges which desolated monarchi- 
cal France. Hear what La Fontaine says, — 

"La faim, les créanciers, les soldats, la corvée, 
Lui font d'un malheureux la peinture achevée." 

ï"ou see that your soldiers of 1858 are angels in comparison 
with our soudards of the monarchy. If, with all this, you 
still find them not absolutely perfect, try the French recipe : 
submit all your citizens to a conscription, in order that your 
regiments may not be composed of the refuse of the nation. 
Create — " 

" Stop ! " cried the prelate. 

" Monsignore ? " 

"I stopped you short, my son, because T perceive that 
you are getting beyond the real and the possible. Primo, 
we have no citizens ; we have subjects. Secundo, the con- 



WHY THE POPE WILL XEYER HAYE SOLDIEES. 179 

scriptiou is a revolutionary measure, which we will not adopt 
at any price ; it consecrates a principle of equality as much 
opposed to the ideas of the Government as to the habits of 
the country. It might possibly give us a very good army, 
but that army would belong to the nation, not to the Sove- 
reign. We will at once put away, if you please, this danger- 
ous utopia." 

*' It might gain you some popularity." 

"Far from it. Believe me, the subjects of the Holy 
Father have a deep antipathy to the principle of the con- 
scription. The discontent of La Vendée and Brittany is 
nothing to that which it would create here." 

" People become accustomed to everything, Monsignore. 
I have met contingents from La Vendée and Brittany sing- 
ing merrily as they went to join their corps," 

" So much the better for them. But let me tell you the 
only grievance of this country against the French rule is the 
conscription, which the Emperor had established among us." 

" So you negative my proposal of the conscription.," 

" Absolutely!" 

" I must think no more about it ? " 

" Quite out of the question," 

" Well, Monsignore, I'll do without it. Let us have re- 
course to the system of voluntary enlistment, but with the 
condition that you secure the prospects of the soldier. What 
bounty do you offer to recruits ? " 

" Twelve scudi ; but for the future we mean to go as high 
as twenty." 

"Twenty scudi is fair enough; still I'm afraid even at 
one hundred and seven francs a head you won't get picked 
men. Now, you will allow, Monsignore, a peasant must be 
badly off indeed when a bounty of twenty scudi tempts him 
to put on a uniform which is universally despised ? But if 



180 THE BO VAX QUESTION. 

you want to attract more recruits round every barrack than 
there were suitors at Penelope's gate, endow the army, offer 
the Roman citizens — pardon me, I mean the Pope's subjects 
— such a bounty as is really likely to tempt them. Pay 
them down a small sum for the assistance of their families, 
and keep the balance till their period of service has expired. 
Induce them to re-engage after their discharge by promises 
honourably and faithfully observed ; arrange that with every 
additional vear of service the savings which the soldier has 
left in the hands of the state shall increase. Believe me, 
when the Romans know that a soldier, without assistance, 
without education, without any brilliant action, or any stroke 
of good fortune, by the mere faithful performance of his 
duty, can, after twenty-five years' service, secure an income 
of £20 or £25 a year, they will snatch at the advantage of 
entering the ranks : and I warrant you. the personal interest 
of each will attach them more firmly to the Government, as 
the depository of their savings. "When the house of a notary 
is on fire you will see the most immovable and indifferent of 
shopkeepers running like a cat on the tiles, to put out the 
fire and save his own papers. On the same principle, a Gov- 
ernment will always be served with zeal in proportion to the 
interest its servants have in its security.-' 

" Of course/' said the Prelate, CC I understand your argu- 
ment perfectly. Man requires some object in life. A hun- 
dred and twenty scudi a year is not an unpleasant bed to lie* 
upon after a term of military service. At this price we 
should not want candidates. Even the middle class would 
solicit employment in the military as much as it now does 
the civil service of the state ; and we should be able to pick 
and choose our men. TThat frightens me in the matter is 
the expense." 

u Ah ! 3Ionsignore, you know a really good article is 



WrfY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAVE SOLDIERS. 181 

never to be had cheap. The Pontifical G-overnment ha3 
15,000 soldiers for £400,000. France would pay half as 
much again for them : but then she would have the value of 
the extra cost. The men who have completed three or four 
terms of service, are those who cost the most money ; and 
yet there is an economy in keeping them, because every such 
man is worth three conscripts. Do you then, or do you not, 
wish to create a national force ? Have you made up your 
mind on the subject ? If you do wish for it, you must pay 
for it, and make the sacrifices necessary to obtain it. If, on 
the contrary, your Government prefers economy to security, 
begin by saving the £400,000, and sell to some foreign 
country the 15,000 muskets, more dangerous than useful, 
since you don't know whether they are for you or against 
you. The question may be summed up in two words : safe- 
ty, which will cost you money ; or economy, which may cost 
you your existence ! " 

" You are proposing an army of Praetorians." 
" The name is not the thing. I only promise you that 
if you pay your soldiers well, they'll be faithful to you." 
" The Prsetorians often turned against the Emperors." 
" Because the Emperors were silly enough to pay them 
ready money." 

" But is there no motive in this world nobler than inter- 
est ? And is money the only lasting tie that binds soldiers 
to their standard ? " 

" I should not be a Frenchman, if I held such a belief. 
I advised you to increase your soldiers' pay, because hitherto 
your army has been recruited by money alone ; and also be- 
cause money is that which it costs you the least to obtain, 
and consequently that which you will the most willingly part 
with. Well then, now that you have given me the few mil- 
lions I required for the purpose of attaching your soldiers to 



182 



THE BOM AN QUESTION. 



the Pontifical Government, furnish me wkîi the means of 
raising them in their own estimation and in that of the peo- 
ple. Honour them, in order that they may become men of 
honour. Prove to them, by the consideration with which 
you surround them, that they are not footmen, and that they 
ought not to have the souls of footmen. Give them a place 
in the state; throw around their uniform some of the 
jpresiige which is now the exclusive privilege of the clerical 
garb." 

" Do you know what you are asking for ?" 

" Nothing but what is absolutely necessary. Remember, 
Monsignore, that this army, raised to act in the interior of 
the Pontifical States, will serve you less frequently by the 
force of its arms, than by the moral authority of its pres- 
ence. And pray what authority can it possess in the eyes 
of your subjects, if the Government affect to despise it ? " 

" But, admitting that it obtain all the pay and all the 
consideration that you claim for it, still it will remain open 
to the remark of the President de Brosses, ' "What are war- 
riors who have never in their lives made war ?' " 

" I admit it. The consideration accorded by all French- 
men to the soldier, takes its source in the idea of the dangers 
he has encountered or may encounter. We behold in him a 
man who has sacrificed his life beforehand, in engaging to 
shed every drop of his blood at a word from his chiefs. If 
the little children in our country respectfully salute the col- 
ours — that steeple of the regiment — it is because they think 
on the brave fellows who have fallen round it." 

" Perhaps, then, you think we ought to send our soldiers 
to make war, before employing them as guardians of the 
peace ? " 

" It is certain, Monsignore, that whenever one sees an 
old Crimean soldier who has strayed into one of the Pope's 



WHY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAVE SOLDIEES. 183 

foreign regiments, the medal he wears on his breast makes 
him look quite a different man from any of his comrades. 
The corps of your army which the people has treated with 
the greatest respect, is the Pontifical Carabineers, because it 
was originally formed of Napoleon's old soldiers." 

" My friend, you do not answer my question. Do you 
require us to declare war against Europe for the sake of 
teaching our gendarmes to keep the peace at home ? " 

" Monsignore, the government of his Holiness is too pru- 
dent to go in search of adventures. We are no longer in 
the days of Julius II., who donned the cuirass, and buckled 
on the sword of the flesh, and sprang himself into the 
breach. But why should not the Head of the Church do as 
Pius V., who sent his sailors with the Spaniards and Vene- 
tians to the battle of Lepanto ? Why should you not de- 
tach a regiment or two to Algeria ? France would, perhaps, 
give them a place in her army ; they might join us in ad- 
vancing the holy cause of civilization. Rest assured that 
when those troops returned, after five or six campaigns, to the 
more modest duty of preserving the public peace, everybody 
would obey them courteously. Vulgar footmen would no 
longer dare to make use of such expressions as one I heard 
yesterday evening at the door of a theatre, — ! Stick to your 
soldiering, and leave servant's work to me ! ' They who de- 
spise them now, would be proud to show them respect ; for 
nations have a tendency to admire themselves in the persons 
of their armies." 

" For how long ? " 

" For ever. Acquired glory is a capital which can never 
be exhausted. And these regiments would never lose the 
spirit of honour and discipline which they would bring back 
from the seat of war. You know not, Monsignore, what it 
is to have an idea become incarnate in a regiment. There 



184 THE EOMAX QUESTIOK. 

is a whole world of recollections, traditions, and virtues, 
circulating, seen and unseen, through, this band of men. 
It is the moral patrimony of the corps : the veterans don't 
carry it away when they retire from the service, while the 
conscripts inherit it from the day of their joining the regi- 
ment. The colonel, the officers, and the privates, change 
one after the other, and yet it is the same regiment that ever 
remains, because the same spirit continues to nutter amid 
the folds of the same colours. Have four good regiments of 
picked men, well paid, properly respected, and that have 
been under fire, and they will last as long as Koine, and 
3lazzini himself will not prevail against their courage." 

" So be it ! And may Heaven hear you ! " 

u The business is half done, Monsignore, when you have 
heard me. We are not far from the Yatican, where sits 
the real Minister of Arms." 

" He will urge another objection." 

" What will it be ? " 

" That if he send our regiments to serve their appren- 
ticeship in Africa, they will bring back French ideas." 

" That is an accident, impossible to prevent. But con- 
sole yourself with the reflection that it is perfectly imma- 
terial whether the French ideas are brought into your 
country by your soldiers or by ours. Besides, this is an ar- 
ticle which so easily eludes the vigilance of the custom-house, 
that the railways are already bringing it in daily, and you will 
soon have a large stock on hand. And after all, where's the 
great evil ? All men who have studied us without preju- 
dice, know that French ideas are ideas of order and liberty, 
of conservatism and progress, of labour and honesty, of 
culture and industry. The country in which French ideas 
abound the most is France, and France, 3Ionsignore, is in 
good health." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MATERIAL INTEBES.TS. 

" For my part," said a great fat Neapolitan, " I don't care 
the value of a bit of orange-peel for politics. I am willing 
to believe we've got a bad government, because all tlie world 
says we have, and because our King never dare show himself 
in public. All I can say is, that my grandfather made 
20,000 ducats as a manufacturer ; that my father doubled 
his capital in trade ; and that I bought an estate which, in 
my tenants' hands, pays me six per cent, for the investment. 
I eat four meals a day, I'm in vigorous health, and I weigh 
fourteen stone. So when I toss off my third glass of old 
Capri wine at supper, I can't for the life of me help crying, 
1 Long live the King ! ' " 

A huge hog which happened to cross the street as the 
Neapolitan reached his climax, gave a grunt in token of ap- 
probation. 

The " hog " school is not numerous in Italy, whatever 
superficial travellers may have told you on that head. The 
most highly-gifted nation in Europe will not easily be per- 
suaded that the great end of human existence is to eat four 
meals a day. 

But let us suppose for an instant that all the Pope's 
subjects are willing to renounce all liberty, — religious, polit- 
ical, municipal, and even civil, — for the sake of growing 



186 THE KO^IAX QUESTION. 

sleek and fat, without any higher aim, and are content with 
'the merely animal enjoyments of health and food ; do they 
find in their homes the means of satisfying their wants ? Can 
they, on that score at least, applaud their Government ? 
Are they as well treated as beasts in a cage ? Are the peo- 
ple fat and thriving ? I answer, No ! 

In every country in the world the sources of public 
wealth are three in number : agriculture, manufactures, and 
commerce. All governments which do their duty, and 
understand their interests, emulate one another in favouring, 
by wholesome administrative measures, the farm, the work- 
shop, and the counting-house. Wherever the nation and its 
rulers are united, trade and manufactures will be found 
clinging round the government, and increasing even to excess 
the population of the capital cities ; while agriculture works 
her greatest miracles in the circuit which is the most imme- 
diately subject to the influence of authority. 

Home is the least industrious and commercial city in the 
Pontifical States, and its suburbs resemble a desert. You 
must travel very far to find any industrial experiment, or 
any attempt at trade. 

"Whose fault is this ? Industrial pursuits require, above 
all things, liberty. Now in the States of the Church all the 
manufactures of any importance constitute privileges be- 
stowed by the government upon its friends. Not only to- 
bacco and salt, but sugar, glass, wax, and stéarine, are objects 
of privilege. Privilege here — privilege there — privilege 
everywhere. An Insurance Company is established, of 
course by special privilege. The very baskets used by the 
cherry-vendors are the monopoly of a privileged basket- 
maker. The Inspector of the Piazza Navona* would seize 

* The principal market in Rome is held in this Piazza. 



MATERIAL IXTEKESTS. 187 

any refractory basket which had failed to pay its tribute to 
monopoly. The grocers of Tivoli, the butchers of Frascati, 
all the retail dealers in the suburbs of Rome, are privileged. 
The system of privileges and monopolies is universal, and of 
course commerce shares the common lot. 

Commerce cannot nourish without capital, facilities of 
credit, easy communication, and, above all, personal safety. 
I have ùi^uwn you what the roads are as to safety. I have 
not yet shown you how wretchedly bad and insufficient they 
are. Now for a few facts. 

In June, 1858, I travelled through the Mediterranean 
provinces, taking notes as I went along. I established the 
fact that in one township the bread cost nearly three-half- 
pence a pound, while in another, some twelve miles off, it 
was to be had for a penny. It follows that the carriage of 
goods along twelve miles of road cost a farthing a pound. 
At Sonnino bad wine was sold for sevenpence the litre, while 
the same quantity of passable wine might be had at Pagliano, 
thirty miles off, for twopence halfpenny ; so the cost of carry- 
ing an article weighing some two pounds for thirty miles was 
fourpence halfpenny. Wherever governments make roads, 
prices naturally find their level. 

I may be told that I explored remote and out-of-the-way 
districts. If we approach the capital, we find the matters 
still worse. The nearest villages to Jlome have not roads 
fit for carriages from one to the other. What would be said 
of the French administration, if people could not get from 
Versailles to St. Germain without passing through Paris ? 
This, however, has been for centuries the state of things near 
the Pope's capital. If you want a still more striking in- 
stance, here it is. Bologna, the second city in the Pontifical 
States, is in rapid and frequent, communication with the 
whole world — except Koine. It despatches seven mails a 



188 THE SOMAN QUESTION. 

week to foreign countries — only five to Rome. The letters 
from Paris arrive at Bologna some hours before those from 
Rome ; the letters from Vienna are in advance of those from 
Rome by a day and a night. The Papal kingdom is not very 
extensive, but it seems to me even too extensive, when I see 
distances trebled by the carelessness of the Government and 
the inadequacy of the public works. As to railways, there 
are two, one from Rome to Frascati, and one from Rome to 
Civita Vecchia ; but the Adriatic provinces, which are the 
most populous, the most energetic, and the most interesting 
in the country, will not hear the whistle of the locomotive 
and the rush of the train for a long time to come. The 
nation loudly demands railways. The lay proprietors, in- 
stead of absurdly asking fancy prices for their land, eagerly 
offer it to companies. The convents alone raise barricades, 
as if they thought the devil was trying to break in at their 
gates. The erection of a railway station in Rome gave rise 
to some comical difficulties. Our unfortunate engineers 
were utterly at a loss for the means of effecting an opening. 
On all sides the way was blocked up by obstructive friars. 
Black friars — white friars — grey friars — and brown friars. 
They began with the Lazarists. The Holy Father person- 
ally came to their rescue. " Ah, Mr. Engineer T have mercy 
on my poor Lazarists ! The good souls are given to prayer 
and meditation; and your locomotives do make such a hid- 
eous din ! " So Mr. Engineer is fain to try the neighbouring 
convent. ISTew difficulties there. The next attack is made 
upon a little nunnery founded by the Princess de Bauffre- 
mont. But I have neither time nor space for episodical 
details. It suffices for our purpose to state that the con- 
struction of railways will be a terribly long-winded affair, 
and that in the meantime trade languishes for want of cross- 
roads. The budget of public works is devoted to the repair 



MATERIAL INTERESTS. 189 

of churches, and the building of basilicas. Nearly half-a- 
million sterling has already teen sunk in the erection of a 
very grey and very ugly edifice on the Ostia road.* As 
much more will be required to finish it, and the commerce 
of the country will be none the better. 

Half a million sterling ! Why the entire capital of the 
bank of Home is but £400,000 ; and when merchants go 
there to have their bills discounted, they can get no money. 
They are obliged to apply to usurers and monopolists, and 
the governor of the bank is one. Rome has an Exchange. 
I discovered its existence by mere chance, in turning over a 
Roman almanack. This public establishment opens once a 
week, a fact which gives some idea of the amount of busi- 
ness transacted there. 

If trade and manufactures offer but small resources to 
the subjects of his Holiness, they fortunately find some com- 
pensation in agriculture. The natural fertility of the soil, 
and the stubborn industry of those who cultivate it, will 
always suffice to keep the nation from starvation. While it 
pays away a million sterling annually for foreign manufac- 
tures, the surplus of its agricultural produce brings back 
some £800,000. Hemp and corn, oil and wool, wine, silk, 
and cattle, form its substantial wealth. 

How do we find the Government acting in this respect ? 
Its duties are very simple, and may be summed up in three 
words, — protection, assistance, and encouragement. 

The budget is not heavily burdened under the head of 
encouragement. Some proprietors and land stewards, resid- 
ing in Rome, ask permission to found an Agricultural Society. 
The authorities refuse. In order to attain their object, they 
steal furtively into a Horticultural Society, already estab- 

* The Basilica of St. Paul without the walls. 



190 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

lished by authority. They organize themselves, raise sub- 
scriptions, exhibit to the Romans a good collection of cattle, 
and distribute some gold and silver medals offered by Prince 
Cesarini. Is it not curious that an exhibition of cattle, in 
order to be tolerated, is obliged to smuggle itself in under 
the shelter of camellias and geraniums ? 

Lay sovereigns not only openly favour agriculture, but 
they encourage it at a heavy cost, and do not consider their 
money thrown away. They are well aware that to give a 
couple of hundred pounds to the inventor of a good plough, 
is to place a small capital out at a heavy interest. The 
investment will render their kingdom more prosperous, and 
their children more wealthy. But the Pope has no children. 
He prefers sowing in his churches, in order to reap the 
harvest in Paradise. 

Might he not at least assist the unfortunate peasants who 
furnish the bread he eats ? 

An able and truthful statistician (the Marchese Pepoli) 
has proved that in the township of Bologna, the rural pro- 
prietors actually pay taxes to the amount of £6. 8s. Ad. 
upon every £4-worth of taxable income. The fisc is not 
content with absorbing the entire revenue, but it annually 
eats into the capital. What think you of such moderation ? 

In 1855 the vines were diseased everywhere. Lay gov- 
ernments vied with each other in assisting the distressed 
proprietors. Cardinal Antonelli seized the opportunity to 
impose a tax of £74,680 upon the vines ; and as there were 
no grapes that year to pay it, the amount was charged upon 
the different townships. Now which has proved the heaviest 
scourge — the Oidium or the Cardinal Minister ? Certainly 
not the Oidium, for that has disappeared. The Cardinal 
remains. 

All the corn harvested in the Agro Romano pays a fixed 



MATERIAL INTERESTS. 191 

duty of twenty-two pauls per rubbio. The rubbio is worth, 
on an average, from 80 to 100 pauls ; so that the government 
taxes the harvest to the amount of at least 22 per cent. 
Here is a moderate tax. Why it is more than double the 
tithe. So much for the assistance rendered to the growers 
of corn. 

Every description of agricultural. produce pays a tax on 
export. There are governments which give a premium to 
exporters : one may call that encouraging the national indus- 
try. There are others, and they are still more numerous, 
which allow a free export of the surplus produce of the land : 
this is not merely to encourage, it is to assist the labourers. 
The Pope levies an average tax of 22 per thousand on the 
total amount of exports, 160 per thousand on the value of 
imports. The Piedmontese government is satisfied with 13 
per thousand on exports, and 58 per thousand on imports. 
Of the two countries, I should prefer farming in Piedmont. 

Cattle are subject to vexatious taxes, which add from 
twenty to thirty per cent, to their cost. They pay when at 
pasture ; they pay nearly twenty-three shillings per head at 
market ; they pay on exportation. And yet the breeding of 
cattle is one of the most valuable resources of the State, and 
one of those which ought to be the most assisted. 

The horses raised id the country pay five per cent, on 
their value every time they change hands. By the time a 
horse has passed through twenty different hands, the Govern- 
ment has pocketed as much as the breeder. When I say the 
Government, I am wrong ; the horse-tax is not included in 
the Budget. It is an ecclesiastical prebend. Cardinal della 
Dateria throws it in with general episcopal revenues. 

" The good shepherd should shear, and not flay his 
sheep." These are the words of an Emperor, not a Pope, 
of Rome. 



192 THE ROUAN QUESTION. 

And now I dare not ask of the Holy Father certain 
protective measures -which could not fail to double the reve- 
nue of his crown and the number of his subjects. 

According to the statistical returns of 1857, the territo- 
rial wealth of the Eomans is estimated at £104,400,000. 
The gross produce of this capital does not reach more than 
£116,563. lis. Sd.j or about ten per cent. This is little. 
In Poland, and some other great agricultural countries, the 
land pays a net revenue of twelve per cent., which represents 
at least twenty per cent, gross. The Roman soil would pro- 
duce the same if the Roman government did its duty. 

The country is divided into cultivated and uncultivated 
lands. The former, that is to say those planted with useful 
trees, enriched by manure, regularly submitted to manual 
labour, and sown every year, lie chiefly in the provinces of 
the Adriatic, far beyond the ken of the Pope. In this half 
of the States of the Church (the most worthy of attention, 
and the least known) twenty years of French occupation have 
left excellent traditions. The system of primogeniture is 
abolished, if not by law, at least in practice. The equality 
of rights among the children of the same father necessitates 
the subdivision of property so favourable to agricultural 
progress. There are some large landed proprietors here, as 
there are everywhere ; but instead of abandoning their estates 
to the rapacity of an intendant, they divide them into differ- 
ent occupations, which they confide to the best farmers. The 
landlord supplies the land, the buildings, and the cattle, and 
pays the property-tax. The tenant supplies the labour, and 
pays the other taxes, and the produce is equally shared be- 
tween the landlord and the tenant. The system answers 
well, and the Adriatic provinces would hardly seem deserv- 
ing of pity, if it were not for the brigands, the inundations 



MATERIAL INTERESTS. 193 

of the Po and the Reno, and the crushing taxation I have 
described. 

These taxes are lighter on the other side of the Apen- 
nines. There are even in the neighbourhood of Rome some 
landowners who pay scarcely any at all. In 1854 the Con- 
sulta di Stato valued the privileged lands at £360,000. 
But we will turn to the subject of the uncultivated lands. 

Towards the Mediterranean, north, east, south, and west 
of Rome, and wherever the Papal benediction extends, the 
flat country, which covers an immense extent, is at once un- 
inhabited, uncultivated, and unhealthy. Various are the 
modes in which experienced persons have attempted to 
account for the wretched condition of this fine country. 

One says, " It is uncultivated because it is uninhabited. 
How can you cultivate without men ? It is uninhabited be- 
cause it is unwholesome. How can you expect men to in- 
habit it at the risk of their lives ? Make it healthy, and it 
will populate itself, and the population will cultivate it, for 
there is not a finer soil in the world." 

Another replies, " You are wrong. You confound cause 
with effect. The country is unhealthy because it is uncultivat- 
ed. The decayed vegetable matter accumulated by centuries 
ferments under the summer sun. The wind blows over it, and 
raises up a provision of subtle miasma, imperceptible to the 
smell, and yet destructive to life. If all these plains were 
ploughed or dug up. three or four times, so as to let the air 
and light penetrate into the depths of the soil, the fever 
which lies dormant under the rank vegetation would speed- 
ily evaporate, and return no more. Hasten then to bring 
ploughs, and your first crop will be one of health." 

A third replies to the two first, " You are both right. 
The country is unhealthy because it is uncultivated, and un- 
cultivated because it is unhealthy. The question lies in a 
9 



194 THE KOMAX QUESTION. 

vicious circle, from which there is no escape. Let us there- 
fore leave things as they are ; and when the fever-season ar- 
rives, we can go and inhale the fresh mountain air under the 
tall trees of Frascati." 

The last speaker, if I am not greatly mistaken, is a Pre- 
late. But have a care, Monsignore ! Frascati, once so re- 
nowned for the purity of its air, now no longer deserves its 
reputation ; and I may say the same of Tivoli. The quarters 
of Borne most remarkable for healthiness, such for instance 
as the Pincian, have of late become unhealthy. Fever is 
gaining ground. It is equally worthy of observation that at 
the same time the cultivation of the land is diminishing ; and 
that the estates in mortmain — that is to say, delivered into 
the hands of the priesthood — have been increasing at the 
yearly rate of from £60,000 to £80,000 a year. Is mort- 
main indeed the hand which kills ? 

I submitted this delicate question to a very intelligent, 
very honourable, and very wealthy man, who farms several 
thousand acres of Church property. He is one of the Mer- 
canii di Campagna, mentioned in a former chapter (Chap. 
VI.). The following is the substance of his reply. 

" Six-tenths of the Agro Romano are held in mortmain. 
Three-tenths belong to the princely families, and the remain- 
ins: tenth to different individuals. 

o 

" I hold under a religious communitv. I have a three- 
years' lease of the bare land. The live and dead farm-stock 
is my own property. It represents an enormous capital, 
which is liable to all sorts of accidents. But in our dear 
country one must risk a great deal to gain a little. 

"■ If the land, which is almost all of fine quality, were 
my own, I should bring nearly the whole of it under the 
plough ; but I am expressly forbidden by a clause in my 
lease to break up the best land, for fear of exhausting it by 



MATEKIAL INTEEESTS. 195 

growing corn. No doubt such would be the result in the 
course of time, because we apply no manure ; but of course 
the inferior land which I am allowed to break up will be 
worn out much sooner, and will in the end become almost 
worthless. The monks knowing this, take care that the best 
land shall not lose its quality, and oblige me to keep it in 
pasture for cattle. Thus I grow little corn merely because 
the good fathers will not let me grow a great deal. I cul- 
tivate first one piece of land, then another. On my farm, as 
throughout the Agro Romano, cultivation is but a passing 
accident; and so long as this continues, the country will be 
unhealthy. 

" I raise cattle, which, as you will presently see, is some- 
times a profitable pursuit, sometimes quite the contrary. 
On the whole of my farm I have no shelter for my cattle. 
I asked the monks to build me some sheds, offering to pay an 
increased rent in proportion to outlay. The monk who acts 
as the man of business of the convent, shrugged his shoulders. 
' What can you be thinking of ? ' he said ; ' you know we have 
only a life interest in the property. To comply with your 
request, we must spend our income for the benefit of our suc- 
cessors : and what care we for our successors ? No, we look 
to the present usufruct ; the future is no concern of ours — we 
have no children !' And the friar is right. Well, he went 
on to say that I was at liberty to build at my own cost as 
many sheds as I liked, which of course would belong to the 
convent at the expiration of my lease. I replied that I had 
no objection to erect the sheds, if the convent would grant 
me a lease of reasonable length. But just then it occurred 
to me very opportunely, that the canon law does not recog- 
nize leases for more than three years, and that on the very 
day when my sheds were completed, the pious fathers might 
find it convenient to pick a quarrel with me. So here the 



196 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

matter dropped. Although, our cattle are naturally hardy, 
they are bound to suffer from exposure to the weather. A 
hundred cows under shelter will yield the same quantity of 
milk through the winter as five hundred in the open air, at 
half the cost. A large portion of the hay we strew about the 
pastures for the cattle, is trodden underfoot and spoilt in- 
stead of being eaten ; and if rain falls, the whole is spoilt. 
Calculate the loss of milk, the cost of cartage over a wide 
range of land, the damage done to the pastures by the tramp- 
ling of heavy cattle in wet weather, all caused by the want 
of a few sheds, which it is impossible to have under the pres- 
ent system, and you will appreciate the position of a farmer 
holding under landlords who are careless as to the future, 
and merely live from hand to mouth. 

" There is another improvement, which I offered to make 
at my own expense. I asked permission to dam up a little 
stream, dig some trenches, and irrigate the fields, by which I 
could have doubled the produce both in quantity and quality. 
You will hardly imagine the answer I received. The monks 
declared the extraordinary fertility which would result from 
the irrigation, would be a sort of violence done to nature, by 
which in the end the soil could not fail to be impoverished. 
What could I reply to such reasoning ? These good fathers 
only think of nursing their income. I tax them neither with 
ignorance nor bad intentions. I only regret that the land 
should be in their hands. 

" Pasture-farming under such conditions as these is a ter- 
ribly hazardous pursuit. A single year of drought will suf- 
fice to ruin a breeder completely. In the years 1854-5 we 
lost from twenty to forty per cent, of our cattle ; in 1856-7 
from seventeen to twenty per cent. : and bear in mind that 
every beast, before it died, had been taxed." 

A champion of the Pontifical system offered to prove to 



MATERIAL INTERESTS. 197 

me by figures that all is for the best even in the ecclesiasti- 
cal estates. 

" We have our reasons," he said, " for preferring pasture 
to arable land. Here is a property consisting of a hundred 
rubbia* (not quite three hundred acres). If it were farmed 
on the proprietor's own account, the cultivation, harvesting, 
threshing, and storing would amount to the value of 13,550 
days' labour. The wages, seed, keep of horses and cattle, 
the interest of capital invested in stock, cost of superintend- 
ence, wear and tear of tools, etc., would stand him in 8,000 
scudi, or 80 scudi per rubbio. The earth returns sevenfold 
on the seed sown. If 100 measures of seed are sown, the re- 
turn will be 700. The average price of the measure of corn 
may be taken at 10 scudi. Thus the value of the crop will 
be 7,000 scudi, whereas the same crop cost to raise 8,000 
scudi. Here are 1,000 scudi (about £215) flung clean into 
the gutter ; and all for the pleasure of cultivating 100 rubbia 
of land. Is it not much better to let the 100 rubbia to a 
cattle-breeder, who will pay a rent of thirty or forty shillings 
per rubbio ? On one side we have a clear loss of £215, and 
on the other a clear income of £160 or £184." 

This reasoning is founded upon the calculations of Monsig- 
nore Nicolai, a prelate of considerable ability :\ but it proves 

* The rubbio is a measure both of land and of quantity. 

f Monsignore Nicolai was a good practical agriculturist. He had a 
sort of model farm, known as the Albereto Nicolai, near the Basilica of 
St. Paul Without the "Walls. He was an able administrator, and a man 
of superior attainments ; and had he only possessed common honesty, he 
would have been in time a great man — as greatness is understood in 
Rome. He was a Prelato di Fiochetto, and held the post of Udito^e ddla 
R. C. Apostolica, one of the four high offices which necessarily lead to 
Red Hats. Moreover, he was marked by Gregory XVI. for the promo- 
tion, and had actually ordered his scarlet apparel. But unfortunately 
Monsignore Nicolai affected the good things of this life over-much. He 



198 THE EQ^rAX QUESTION. 

nothing, because it attempts to prove too much. If the cul- 
tivation of corn be really so ruinous an operation, it is 
strange that farmers should continue to grow it merely to 
spite the government. 

But although it is quite true that the cultivation of a 
rubbio of land costs 80 scudi, it is false that the earth only 
yields sevenfold on the seed sown. According to the admis- 
sion of the farmers themselves — and they are notoriously not 
in the habit of exaggerating their profits — it yields thirteen- 
fold on the seed sown. Thirteen measures of corn are worth 
thirteen times ten scudi" or 130 scudi. Deduct 80, the cost 
of cultivation, and 50 remain. Multiply by 100, the result 
is 5,000 scudi (about £1,070), which will be the net income 
arising from the 100 rubbia cultivated in corn. The same 
extent of land under pasturage will produce £160 or £180. 

was a bon vivant, and a viveur. He loved money, and lie "was utterly 
unscrupulous as to the means by which he obtained it. His career in 
the direction of the Sacred College was cut short, when he was very near 
its attainment, by a scandalous transaction, in which, although he was 
nearly eighty years of age, he played the principal part. He colluded 
with a notary, named Bachetti, to falsify the will of one Yitelli, a 
wealthy contractor, inserting in the place of the testator's two orphan 
nieces that of his own natural son. The affair having been dragged to 
light, Gregory XVI. deprived him of his office, and he ended his days in 
disgrace and retirement. His fondness for worldly pelf clung to him in 
his very last moments. A short time before he expired, he ordered 
some gendarmes to be brought into his bedroom, and charged them to 
watch over his property, lest anything should be stolen after he had 
ceased to breathe, and before the representatives of the law could take 
possession. 

It is worthy of mention, as illustrating the administration of Justice 
in Rome, that even with these proofs of the invalidity of the will pro- 
duced as that of Yitelli, his nieces were never able to recover the whole 
of his property. They were compelled to make terms with Grossi, the 
defunct Prelate's natural son, who to this day remains in the enjoyment 
of one-half of Yitelli' s property ! 



MATBBIAX INTERESTS. 199 

Consider, moreover, that it is not the net, but the gross 
income, -which constitutes the wealth of a country. The 
cultivation of 100 rubbia, before it puts 5,000 scudi into the 
farmer's pockets, has put some 8,0(?0 scudi in circulation. 
These eight thousand scudi are distributed among a thou- 
sand or fifteen hundred poor creatures who are sadly in want 
of them. Pasture-farming, on the contrary, is only profit- 
able to three persons, the landlord, the breeder, and the 
herdsman. Add to this, that in substituting arable for pas- 
ture farming, you substitute health for disease, a more im- 
portant consideration than any other. 

But churchmen who hold or administer lands in mort- 
main, will never consent to such a salutary resolution. It 
does not profit them directly enough. As long as they have 
the upper hand, they will prefer their own ease, and the cer- 
tainty of their income, to the future welfare of the people. 

Pius TL, a Pope worthy to have statues erected to him, 
conceived the heroic project of forcing a change upon them. 
He decided that 23,000 rubbia should be annually cultivated 
in the Asro Piomano, and that all the land should in turn be 
subjected to manual labour. Pius TIL did still better. 
He decided that Rome, the origo mcdi ) should be the first 
to apply the remedy. He had a circuit of a mile traced 
round the capital, and ordered the proprietors to cultivate it 
without further question. A second, and then a third, were 
to succeed to the first. The result would have been the dis- 
appearance, in a few years, of malaria, and the gradual popu- 
lation of the solitudes. The purification of the atmosphere 
would, too, be further promoted by planting trees round the 
fields. Excellent measures these, although tinged by des- 
potism. Enlightened despotism repairs the errors of clumsy 
despotism. But what could the will of two men avail 
against the passive resistance of a caste ? The laws of Pius 



200 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

VI. and Pius VII. were never enforced. Cultivation, which 
had extended over 16,000 rubbia under the reign of Pius 
VI., is reduced to an annual average of 5,000 or 6,000 under 
the paternal inspection of Pius IX. Not only is the plant- 
ing of young trees abandoned, but the sheep are allowed to 
nibble down the tender shoots of the old ones. Besides this, 
speculators are tolerated, who burn down whole forests, for 
the production of potash. 

The estates of the Roman princes are somewhat better 
cultivated than those of the Church : but they are involved 
in the same movement, or, more strictly speaking, enchained 
in the same stagnation. The law, which retains immense 
domains for ever in the hands of the same family, and cus- 
tom, which obliges the Roman nobles to spend so large a 
portion of their incomes upon show, are equally obstacles to 
the subdivision and to the improvement of the land. 

And while the richest plains in Italy are thus lying dor- 
mant, a vigorous, indefatigable, and heroic population culti- 
vates with the pickaxe the arid sides of mountains, and 
exhausts its strength in attempting to extract vegetation 
from flints. 

I have described the small mountain proprietors who 
form the populations of the towns of 10,000 inhabitants to- 
wards the Mediterranean. You have seen with what in- 
domitable resolution they combat the sterility of their meagre 
domains, without any hope of ever becoming rich. These 
poor people, who spend their lives in getting their living, 
would fancy themselves transported to Paradise, if anybody 
were to give them a long lease of half-a-dozen acres in the 
country about Home. Their labour would thenjiave a pur- 
pose, their existence an aim, their family a future. 

Perhaps you think they would refuse to labour in an un- 
healthy country. Why, these are the very men who at 



MATERIAL INTERESTS. 201 

present cultivate the Roman Campagna to such extent as it 
is allowed to be cultivated. They it is who, every spring, 
come down in large companies from their native mountains, 
to break up the heavy clods with pickaxes, and complete the 
work of the plough. It is they, too. who return to harvest 
the crop under the fatal heat of the summer sun. They at- 
tack a field waving with golden corn. They reap from dawn 
to dusk, with no food more nourishing than bread and 
cheese. They sleep in the open field, regardless of the noc- 
turnal exhalations which float around them— -and some of 
them never rise again. Those who survive ten days of a 
harvest more destructive than many a battle, return to their 
native village with some four or five scudi in their pockets. 

If these men could obtain a long lease, or merely take 
the land from year to year, they would make more money, 
and the dangers to be encountered would be no greater, 
They might be established between Eome and Montepoli, 
Rome and Civita Castellana, in the valley of Ceprano, on the 
hills extending round the Castelli of Rome, where they 
would breathe an air as wholesome as that of their own 
mountains ; for fever does not always spare them even there. 
In course of time, the colonizing system, advancing slowly 
and gradually, might realize the dream of Pius VIL, and 
would inevitably drive before it pauperism and disease. 

I dare not hope that such a miracle will ever be wrought 
by a Pope. The resistance to be encountered is too great, 
and the power is too inert. But if it should ever please 
Heaven, which has given them ten centuries of clerical gov- 
ernment, to accord them, by way of compensation, ten 
blessed years of lay administration, we should perhaps see 
the Church property placed in more active and abler hands. 

Then, too, we should see the law of primogeniture and 
the system of entails abolished, large estates divided, and 
9* 



202 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

their owners reduced, by the force of circumstances, to the 
necessity of cultivating their properties. G-ood laws on ex- 
portation, well enforced, would enable spirited farmers to 
cultivate corn on a large scale. A network of country roads, 
and main lines of railway, would convey agricultural produce 
from one end of the country to the other. A national fleet 
would carry it all over the world. Public works, institu- 
tions of credit, police — But why plunge into such a sea of 
hopes ? 

Suffice it to say, that the subjects of the Pope will be as 
prosperous and as happy as any people in Europe — as soon 
as they cease to be governed by a Pope ! 



CHAPTER XX. 

FINANCES. 

''The subjects of the Pope are necessarily poor — but then 
they pay hardly any taxes. The one condition is a compen- 
sation for the other ! "' 

This is what both you and I have often heard said. 
Xow and then, too, it is put forth upon the faith of some 
statistical return or another of the Golden Age, that they 
are governed at the rate of 7s. 6d. per head. 

This calculation is a mere fable, as I can easily prove. 
But supposing it to be correct, the Romans would not be the 
less deserving of pity. It is a miserable consolation to peo- 
ple who have nothing, to be told that their taxes are low. 
For my part, I would much rather have heavy taxes to pay, 
and a good deal to pay them with, like the English. What 
would be thought of the Queen's government, if after hav- 
ing ruined trade, manufactures, and agriculture, and ex- 
hausted all the sources of public prosperity, it were to say to 
the people, u Rejoice, good people, for henceforth your taxes 
will not exceed 7s. Qd. a head all round ! " The English 
people would answer with great reason, that they would 
much prefer to pay £40 a head, and be able to make £400. 

It is not this or that particular sum per head on a pop- 
ulation which constitutes moderate or excessive taxation ; 
but the relation which the sum annually taken for the ser- 



204 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

vice of the State bears to the revenues of the nation. It is 
just to take much from him who has much ; monstrous to 
attempt to take anything — be it never so little — from him 
who has nothing. If you examine the question from this 
common sense point of view, you will agree with me that 
taxation at the rate of 7s. Qd. a head, is pretty heavy for the 
poor Romans. 

But 7s. Qd. a head is not the rate at which they are 
taxed ; nor even double that amount. The Budget of Rome 
is £2,800,000, which is to be assessed upon three million 
taxpayers. 

Assessed, moreover, not according to the laws of reason, 
justice, and humanity, but in such a manner that the hea- 
viest burdens fall upon the most useful, laborious, and in- 
teresting class of the nation, the small proprietors. 

And I do not allude here to the taxes paid directly to 
the State, and admitted in the budget. Besides these, there 
are the provincial and municipal charges, which, under the 
title of additional per-centage, amount to more than double 
the direct taxes. The province of Bologna pays £80,900 of 
property-tax, and £96,812 of provincial and municipal 
charges, making together £177,712. This sum distributed 
over the whole population of 370,107, brings the taxation to 
a fraction under 10s. a head. But observe, that instead of 
being borne by the whole population, it is borne by no more 
than 23,022 proprietors. 

But mark a further injustice ! It does not bear equally 
upon the proprietors of the towns and those of the country. 
The former has a great advantage over the latter. A 
town property in the province of Bologna pays 2s. 3d. per 
cent., a country property of the same value 5s. 3d. per cent., 
not upon the income, but the capital. 

tn the towns, it is not the palaces, but the houses of the 



FINANCES. 205 

middle class that are the most heavily rated. Take the 
palace of a nobleman in Bologna, and a small house belong- 
ing to a citizen, which adjoins it. The palace is valued at 
the trifling sum of £1,100, on the ground that the apart- 
ments inhabited by the owner are not included in the in- 
come. The actual rent of which the owner is in the receipt 
for the part left off is about £280 a year: his taxes are £18 
a year. The small house adjoining is valued at £200. The 
rent derived from it is £10 a year, and the taxes paid on it 
are £3. 7s. 6d. Thus we find the palace paying something 
like 5s. Qd. per cent, on its income, and the small house 
£1 7s. 

The Lombards justly excite our compassion. But the 
proprietors of the province of Bologna are taxed to the an- 
nual amount of £1,400 more than those of the province of 
Milan. 

To this crushing taxation are added heavy duties on ar- 
ticles of consumption. All the necessaries of life are liable 
to these taxes, such as flour, vegetables, rice, bread, etc. 
They are heavier than in almost any other European city. 
Meat is charged at the same rate as in Paris. Hay, straw, 
and wood, at still higher rates. 

The town dues of Lille amount to 10s. per head on the 
population ; those of Florence, about the same ; and those of 
Lyons 12s. 6d At Bologna they are 14s. 2d. Observe, 
town dues alone. We are already a long way from the 7s. 
6d of the Golden Age ! 

I am bound in justice to admit that the nation has not 
always been so hardly dealt with. It was not till the reign 
of Pius IX. that the taxation became insupportable. The 
budget of Bologna was more than doubled between 1846 
and 1858. 



206 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

Something might be said, if at least the money taken 
from the nation were spent for the good of the nation ! 

But one-third of the amount raised in taxation remains 
in the hands of the officials who collect it. This is incredi- 
ble, but true. The cost of collecting the revenue amounts, 
if I mistake not, in England, to 8 per cent, ; in France, to 
14 per cent.; in Piedmont, to 16 per cent.; and in the 
States of the Church, to 31 per cent. 

If you marvel at a system of extravagance which obliges 
the people to pay £4 for every £2. 15s. lOd. required for 
their mis-government, here is a fact which will enlighten you 
on the subject. 

Last year the place of municipal receiver was put up to 
auction in the city of Bologna. An offer was made by an 
honourable and responsible man to collect the dues for a 
commission of lj- per cent. The Government gave the 
preference to Count Cesare Mattei, one of the Pope's Cham- 
berlains, who asked two per cent. So this piece of favour- 
itism costs the city £800 a year. 

The following is the mode in which the revenue (after 
the abstraction of one-third in the course of collecting it) is 
disposed of. 

£1,000,000 goes to pay the interest of a continually 
accumulating debt, contracted by the priests, and for the 
priests, annually increasing through the bad administration 
of the priests, and carried by the priests to the debit of the 
nation. 

£400,000 is devoured by a useless army, the sole duty 
of which has hitherto been to present arms to the Cardinals, 
and to escort the procession of the Host. 

£120,000 is devoted to those establishments which of all 
others are the most indispensable to an unpopular govern- 
ment : I mean, the prisons. 



KDTA1TGBS. 207 

£80,000 is the cost of the administration of justice. The 
tribunals of the capital absorb half the amount, because they 
enjoy the distinction of being for the most part composed of 
prelates. 

The very modest sum of £100,000 is devoted to public 
works, This is chiefly spent in embellishing Home, and re- 
pairing churches. 

£60,000 goes in the encouragement of idleness in the 
city of Rome. A Charity Commission, presided over by a 
Cardinal, distributes this sum anions: a few thousand incorri- 
gible idlers, without accounting for it to anybody. Mendici- 
ty is all the more flourishing, as is apparent to every one. 
From 1827 to 1858, the subjects of the Holy Father paid 
£1,600.000 in mischievous alms, among the injurious effects 
of which, the principal was to deprive labour of the hands it 
required. The Cardinal who presides over the Commission 
takes £2.400 a year for his private charities. 

£16,000 defrays poorly enough the cost of the public 
education, which, moreover, is wholly in the hands of the 
clergy. Add this moderate sum, and the £80,000 devoted 
to the administration of justice, to a part of the £100,000 
spent on public works, and you have all that can fairly be 
set down as money spent in the service of the nation. The 
remainder is of no use but to the Government, — in other 
words, to a parcel of priests. 

The Pope and the partners of his power must be indiffer- 
ent financiers, when, after spending such a pittance on the 
nation, they contrive to wind up every .year with a deficit. 
The balance of 1858 showed a deficit of nearly half a million 
sterling, which does not prevent the government from prom- 
ising a surplus in the estimates of 1859. 

In order to fill up the gaps in the budget, the Govern- 
ment has recourse to borrowing, sometimes openly, by a loan 



208 THE EOilAX QUESTION. 

from the house of Rothschild, sometimes secretly, by an 
issue of stock. 

In 1S57 the Pontifical Government contracted its 
eleventh loan with Rothschild's house ; it vfas a trifle, 
something under £700.000. Nevertheless there were quiet 
issues of stock from 1851 to 1858, to the tune of £1.320.000. 

The capital of the debt for which its subjects are liable, 
amounts to £14,376,150. 5s. If you will take the trouble 
to divide this grand total by the figure which represents the 
population, you will find that every little subject born to the 
Pope comes into the world a debtor of something like 
£4. 10s.. whereof he will contribute to pay the interest all 
his life, although neither he nor his ancestors have ever de- 
rived the least benefit from the outlay. 

It is true these fourteen millions and a half (in round 
numbers) have not been lost for all the world. The nephews 
of the Popes have pocketed a good round sum. About a 
third has been swallowed up by what is called the general 
interests of the Roman Catholic faith. It has been proved 
that the religious wars have cost the Popes at least four mil- 
lions : and the farmers of Ancona and Forlî are still paying 
out of the produce of their fields for the faggots used to burn 
the Huguenots. The churches of which Rome is so proud 
have not been paid for entirely by the tribute of Catholicism 
at large. There are certain remnants of accounts, which 
were at the cost of the Roman people. The Popes have 
made more than one donation to those poor religious estab- 
lishments, which possess no more than £20.000.000 worth of 
property in the world. The expenses lumped together under 
the head of Allocations for Public Worship add something 
short of £900.000 sterling to the national debt. Foreign 
occupation, and more particularly the invasion of the Austri- 
ans in the north, has burdened the inhabitants with a million 



FINANCES. 209 

sterling. Add the money squandered, given away, stolen, 
and lost, together with £1,360,000 paid to bankers for com- 
mission on loans, and you have an account of the total of the 
debt, excepting perhaps a million and a half or so, of which 
the unexplained and inexplicable disbursement does immor- 
tal honour to the discretion of the ministers. 

Since the restoration of Pius IX., an approach to respect 
for public opinion has forced the Pontifical Government to 
publish some sort of accounts. It does not render them to 
the nation, but to Europe, knowing that Europe is not 
curious in the matter, and will be easily satisfied. A few 
copies of the annual Budget are published ; they are cer- 
tainly not in everybody's reach. The statement of receipts 
and expenditure is prodigiously laconic. I have now before 
me the estimates prepared for 1858, in four pages, the least 
blank of which contains just fourteen lines. The Finance 
Minister sums up the receipts and the outgoings, both ordi- 
nary and extraordinary. Under the head of Receipts, he 
lumps the whole of " the direct contributions, and the State 
property, 3,201,426 scudi." 

Under the head of Expenditure, we read " Commerce, 
Fine Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures, and Public Works, 
601,764 scudi." A tolerable lump, this. 

This powerful simplification of accounts enables the 
Minister to perform some capital tricks of financial sleight of 
hand. Supposing, for instance, the Government wants half 
a million of scudi for some mysterious purpose, nothing is 
easier than to bring their direct contributions in as havino- 
paid half a million less than they really have. What will 
Europe ever know about the matter ? 

" Speech is silver, but silence is gold." 



210 



THE EOMAN QUESTION. 



Successive Finance Ministers at Rome have all adopted 
this device, even when they are forced to speak, they have 
the art of not saying the very thing the country wants to 
hear. 

In almost all civilized countries the nation enjoys two 
rights which seem perfectly just and natural. The first is 
that of voting the taxes, either directly or through the 
medium of its deputies ; the second, that of verifying the 
expenditure of its own money. 

In the Papal kingdom, the Pope or his Minister says to 
the citizens, " Here is what you have to pay ! " And he 
takes the money, spends it, and never more alludes to it 
except in the vaguest language. 

Still, in order to afford some sort of satisfaction to 
the conscience of Europe, Pius IX. promised to place the 
finances under the control of a sort of Chamber of Deputies. 
Here is the text of this promise, which figured, with many 
others, in the Motu Proprio of the 12th of September, 
1849. 

" A Consulta di Stato for the Finances is established. 
It will be heard on the estimates of the forthcoming year. 
It will examine the balance of accounts for the previous 
year, and sign the vote of credit. It will give its advice on 
the establishment of new, or the reduction of old taxes ; 
on the better distribution of the general taxation ; on the 
measures to be taken for the improvement of commerce, and 
in general on all that concerns the interests of the public 
Treasury. 

" The Councillors shall be selected by Us from lists pre- 
sented by the Provincial Councils. Their number shall be 
fixed in proportion to the provinces of the State. This 
number may be increased within fixed limits by the addition 



FINANCES. 211 

of some of our subjects, whom we reserve to ourselves the 
right to name." 

Now, allow me to dwell briefly upon the meaning of this 
promise, and the results which have followed it. Who 
knows whether diplomacy may not ere long be again occupied 
in demanding promises of the Pope ? — whether the Pope may 
not again think it wise to promise mountains and marvels ? 
— whether these new promises may not be just as hollow 
and insincere as the old ones ? This short paragraph 
deserves a long commentary, for it is fraught with instruc- 
tion. 

" It is established ! " said the Pope. But the Consulta 
di Stato of Finances, established the 12th of September, 
1849, only gave signs of life in December, 1853. Four 
years afterwards ! This is what I call drawing a bill at a 
pretty long date. It is admitted that the nation needs some 
guarantees, and that it is entitled to tender some advice, 
and to exercise some control. And so the nation is request- 
ed to call again in four years. 

The members of the Consulta of the Finances are a sort 
of sham deputies ; very sham ones, I assure you, although 
the Count de Rayneval, to suit his purpose, is pleased to call 
them " the Representatives of the Nation." They represent 
the nation as Cardinal Antonelli represents the Apostles. 

They are elected by the Pope from a list presented by 
the Communal Councils. The Communal Councillors are 
elected by their predecessors of the Communal Council, who 
were chosen directly by the Pope from a list of eligible cit- 
izens, each of whom must have produced a certificate of good 
conduct, both religious and political. In all this I cannot 
for the life of me see more than one elector — the Pope. 

We'll begin this progressive election again, and start 
from the very bottom — that is, the nation. The Italians 



212 THE EOMAN QUESTION. 

have a peculiar fancy for municipal liberties. The Pope 
knows this, and, as a good prince, he resolves to accommodate 
them. The township or commune wishes to choose its own 
councillors, of which there are ten to be elected. The Pope 
names sixty electors — six electors for every councillor. And 
observe, that in order to become an elector, a certificate from 
the parish and the police is necessary. But they are not in- 
fallible ; and, moreover, it is just possible that in the exercise 
of a novel right they may fall into some error ; so the Sov- 
ereign determines to arrange the election himself. Then, 
his Communal Councillors — for they are indeed Ms — come 
and present him with a list of candidates for the Provincial 
Council. The list is long, in order that the Holy Father 
may have scope for his selection. For instance, in the prov- 
ince of Bologna he chooses eleven names out of one hun- 
dred and fifty-six ; he must be unlucky indeed not to be able 
to pick out eleven men devoted to him. These eleven Pro- 
vincial Councillors, in their turn, present four candidates, 
out of whom the Pope chooses one. And this is how the 
nation is represented in the Financial Council. 

Still, with a certain luxury of suspicion, the Holy Father 
adds to the list of representatives some men of his own choice, 
his own caste, and who are in habits of intimacy with him. 
The councillors elected by the nation are eliminated by one- 
third every two years. The councillors named directly by 
the Pope are irremovable. 

Verily, if ever constituted body offered guarantees to 
power, it was this Council of Finances. And yet, the Pope 
does not trust to it. He has given the présidence to a Car- 
dinal, the vice-presidence to a Prelate ; and still he is only 
half re-assured. A special regulation places all the coun- 
cillors under the supreme control of the Cardinal President. 
It is he who names the commissioners, organizes the bureaux, 



FINANCES. 213 

and makes the reports to the Pope. "Without his permission 
no papers or documents are 'communicated to the councillors. 
So true is it that the reigning caste sees in every layman an 
enemy. 

And the reigning caste is quite right. These poor lay 
councillors, selected among the most timid, submissive, and 
devoted of the Pope's subjects, could not forget that they 
were men, citizens, and Italians. On the day after their in- 
stallation they manifested a desire to begin doing their duty, 
by examining the accounts of the preceding year. They 
■were told that these accounts were lost. They persisted in 
their demands. A search was instituted. A few documents 
were produced ; but so incomplete that the Council was not 
able in six years to audit and pass them. 

The advice of the Council of Finances was not taken on 
the new taxes decreed between 1849 and 1853. Since 1853, 
that is to say, since the Council of Finances has entered 
upon its functions, the Government has contracted foreign 
loans, inscribed consolidated stock in the great book of the 
national debt, alienated the national property, signed postal 
conventions, changed the system of taxation at Benevento, 
and taxed the diseased vines, without even taking the trouble 
to ascertain its opinion. 

The Grovernment proposed some other financial measure 
to the Council, and the answer was in the negative. In spite 
of this, the Grovernment measures were carried into execu- 
tion. The Motu Propria says the Consulta di Stato shall 
be heard, but not that it shall be listened to.* 

Every year, at the end of the session, the Consulta ad- 
dresses to the Pope a humble petition against the gross 
abuses of the financial system. The Pope remits the petition 

* All the facts and figures contained in this chapter are taken from 
the works of the Marchese Peooli. 



214 THE EOMAX QUESTION. 

over to some Cardinals. The Cardinals remit it over to the 
Greek Kalends. 

The Count de Kayneval greatly admired this mechanism. 
The Emperor Soulouque did more— he imitated it. 

But M. Guizot tells us that " there is a degree of had 
government "which no people, whether great or little, en- 
lightened or ignorant, will tolerate at the present day."* 

* Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 293. 



CONCLUSION. 

The Count de Rayneval, after having proved that all is for 
the best in the dominions of the Pope, winds up his celebrated 
Note by a desponding conclusion. According to him, the 
Roman Question is one which cannot possibly be definitively 
solved ; and the utmost that can be effected by diplomacy is 
the postponement of a catastrophe. 

I am not such a pessimist. It appears to me that all 
political questions may be solved, and all catastrophes averted. 
I am sanguine enough to believe that war is not absolutely 
indispensable to the salvation of Italy and the security of 
Europe, and that it is possible to extinguish a conflagration 
without firing guns. 

You have seen the intolerable misery and the legitimate 
discontent of the subjects of the Pope. You know enough 
of them to understand that Europe ought without delay to 
bring them succour, not only from the love of abstract justice, 
but in the interest of the public peace. I have proved to 
you that the misfortunes which afflict these three millions of 
men must be attributed neither to the weakness of the sover- 
eign, nor even to the perversity of minister, but are the logi- 
cal and necessary deductions from a principle. All that 
Europe has to do is to protest against the consequences. The 
principle must either be admitted or rejected. If you ap- 



216 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

prove the temporal sovereignty of the Pope, you are bound 
to applaud everything, even the conduct of Cardinal Anto- 
nelli. If you are shocked by the offences of the Pontifical 
Government, it is against the ecclesiastical monarchy that 
you must seek your remedy. 

Diplomacy, without staying to discuss the premises, has 
from time to time protested against the deductions. In 
profoundly respectful Memoranda it has implored the Pope 
to act inconsistently, by administering the affairs of his States 
upon the principles of lay governments. Should the Pope 
turn a deaf ear, the diplomatists have no right to complain, 
because they recognize his character, as an independent sov- 
ereign. Should he promise all they ask and afterwards break 
his word, diplomacy is equally without a ground of complaint. 
Is it not the admitted right of the Sovereign Pontiff to ab- 
solve men even from the most solemn oaths ? And finally, 
should he yield to the solicitation of Europe, and enact 
liberal laws one day, only to let them fall into desuetude the 
next, diplomatists are once more disarmed. To violate its 
own laws is a special privilege of absolute monarchy. 

I entertain a very high respect for our diplomatists of 
1859 ; nor were their predecessors of 1831 wanting either 
in good intentions or capacity. They addressed to Gregory 
XVI. a Memorandum, which is a master-piece of its kind. 
They extorted from the Pope a real constitution, — a constitu- 
tion which left nothing to be desired, and which guaranteed 
all the moral and material interests of the Koman nation. 
In a few years this same constitution had entirely disappeared, 
and abuses again flowed from the ecclesiastical principle, like 
a river from its source. 

We renewed the experiment in 1849. The Pope granted 
us the Motu Proprio of Portici, and the Romans gained 
nothing by it. 



CONCLUSION. 21 Y 

Shall our diplomatists repeat in 1559 this same part of 
dupes ? A French engineer has demonstrated that dykes 
erected along the banks of rivers liable to inundation are 
costly, in constant need of repair, and ineffectual ; and that 
the only real protection against those devastations is the 
construction of a dam at the source. To the source, then, 
gentlemen of the diplomatic guild ! Ascend straight to the 
temporal power of the Papacy. 

And yet I dare neither hope for, nor ask of Europe the 
immediate application of this grand panacea. Gerontocracy 
is still too powerful, even in the youngest governments 
Besides, we are now at peace, and radical reforms are only 
to be effected by war. The sword alone enjoys the privilege 
of deciding great questions by a single stroke. Diplomatists. 
a timid army of peace, proceed but by half-measures. 

There is one which was proposed in 1814 by Count 
Aldini, in 1S31 by Rossi, in 1S55 by Count Cavour. 
These three statesmen, comprehending the impossibility of 
limiting the authority of the Pope within the kingdom in 
which it is exercised, and over the people who are abandoned 
to it, advised Europe to remedy the evil by diminishing the 
extent of, and reducing the population subjected to, the 
States of the Church. 

2s othing is more just, natural, or easy than to free the 
Adriatic provinces, and to confine the despotism of the Pa- 
pacy between the Mediterranean and the Apennines. I have 
shown that the cities of Ferrara. Ravenna, Bologna. Rimini, 
and Ancona are at once the most impatient of the Pontifical 
yoke and the most worthy of liberty. Deliver them. Here 
is a miracle which may be wrought by a stroke of the pen : 
and the eagle's plume which signed the treaty of Paris is U3 
yet but freshly mended. 

10 



218 THE ROMAN QUESTION. 

There would still remain to the Pope a million of sub- 
jects, and between three and four millions of acres ; neither 
the one nor the other in a very high state of cultivation, I 
must admit ; but it is possible that the diminution of his 
revenue might induce him to manage his estates and utilize 
his resources better than he now does. One of two things 
would occur : either he would enter upon the course pursued 
by good governments, and the condition of his subjects 
would become endurable, or he would persist in the errors 
of his predecessors, and the Mediterranean provinces would 
in their turn demand their independence. 

At the worst, and as a last alternative, the Pope might 
retain the city of Rome, his palaces and temples, his cardi- 
nals and prelates, his priests and monks, his princes and 
footmen, and Europe would contribute to feed the little 
colony. 

Rome, surrounded by the respect of the universe, as by a 
Chinese wall, would be, so to speak, a foreign body in the 
midst of free and living Italy. The country would suffer 
neither more nor less than does an old soldier from the bullet 
which the surgeon has left in his leg. 

But will the Pope and the Cardinals easily resign them- 
selves to the condition of mere ministers of religion ? "Will 
they willingly renounce their political influence ? TTill they 
in a single day forget their habits of interfering in our affairs, 
of arming princes against one another, and of discreetly 
stirring up citizens against their rulers ? I much doubt it. 

But on the other hand, princes will avail themselves of 
the lawful right of self-defence. They will read history, and 
they will there find that the really strong governments are 
those which have kept religious authority in their own 
hands ; that the Senate of Rome did not grant the priests 



CONCISION. 219 

of Carthage liberty to preach in Italy ; that the Queen of 
England and the Emperor of Russia are the heads of the 
Anglican and Russian religions ; and they will see that by 
right the sovereign metropolis of the churches of France 
should be in Paris. 



THE END. 



LIST OF BOOKS 



PUBLISHED BY 



D. APPLETON & COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



Any of these oooTcs sent free of postage on receiving a remittance of its price. 



Adams' Edgar Clifton. 

Edgar Clifton ; or, Right and Wrong. A Story for Boys. By C. 
Adams. 16mo., elegant cloth. Illustrated, 75 cents ; gilt edges, $1. 

This work is greatly prized by parents for the directness and force of its 
moral instruction, while the young people are not less attracted by its lively 
Incidents and well-drawn characters. 

Adams' Boys at Home. 

Boys at Home, by C. Adams, author of " Edgar Clifton." Illustrated 
by J. Gilbert. 16mo., extra cloth, 75 cents; gilt edges, $1. 
The dramatic scenes delineated in this narrative have a powerful charm for 
youthful readers ; the incidents being drawn from every-day life, and the moral 
inculcated more by the course of the narrative than by direct precepts. 

Addison's Spectator. 

The Spectator. By Addison, and others. A new and carefully re- 
vised edition, with Prefaces, Historical and Biographical. By Alex- 
ander Chalmers, A. M. 6 vols. 8vo., fine large type, cloth, $9 ; half 
calf extra, $15 ; calf extra, $20. 

■ another edition, in 4 neat vols. 12mo., cloth, $3 50. 

in half calf, $6 ; in full calf, $7. 

These elegant library editions of Addison's most popular work are preferred 
to all others, not only for the learned critical and illustrative notes and prefaces, 
but for the bold type and fine paper, and the general mechanical elegance with 
which they are "got up." 



6 D. APPLETOX & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 

Adler's German and English Dictionary. 

A Xew Dictionary of the German and English Languages. Indi 
eating the Accentuation of every German "Word, containing several 
hundred German Synonymes ; together with a Classification and Al- 
phabetical List of the Irregular Verbs, and a Dictionary of German 
Abbreviations. By Prof. G. J. Adlee. In two parts : — I. German 
and English ; II. English and German. One elegant volume, of 
1,400 pages, large Svo., half morocco, §3 50. 

This is the best German Dictionary published in this country. The direc- 
tions for accentuation, the synonymes, and the other unusual additions to a 
work of this kind, together with the great number of technical and scientific 
terms which it explains, and the general fulness of its definitions, render it the 
most complete and useful work of the kind. 

Adler's Pocket German and English Dic- 
tionary. 

An Abridged German and English Dictionary. In two parts : — 
I. German and English. II. English and German. By Prof. G. J. 
Adlee. One vol., 12mo., of SM pp., half bound, $1 50. 

This abridgment of Professor Adler's great German Dictionary is very ex- 
tensively used in schools, as well as by private students. It is of a very con • 
venient size for common use. 

Adler's German Reader. 

Progressive German Reader. Prepared with reference to Ollen- 
dorff's German Grammar ; with copious Xotes and a Vocabulary. 
By Prof. G. J. Adlee. 12mo., $1. 

Professor Adler has been very careful in preparing this book for the pur- 
pose of instruction, to graduate the lessons with reference to the wants of be- 
ginners, so as not to present anomalous or difficult passages until the way has 
been smoothed and facilitated by easier readings. The Grammar, Xotes, and 
Vocabulary, render the book complete in itself, and supersede the necessity of 
employing a number of volumes at the very outset of the studont's course. 

Adler's German Literature. 

Hand-Book of German Literature, containing : Schiller's Maid of 
Orleans, Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris, Tieck's Puss in Boots, the 
Xenia by Goethe and Schiller, with Critical Introductions and Ex- 
planatory Notes ; to which is added, an Appendix of Specimens of 
German Prose. By Prof. G. J. Adlee. 12mo., $1 50. 

Ollendorff's Xew Method of Learning to Bead, Write, and 

Speak the German Language. By Prof. G. J. Adlee. 12mo., $1. 
A Key to the Exercises, in a separate volume, 75 cents. 

The Hand-Book possesses the great merit of giving a collection of complete 
works by classical German authors, instead of the usual scraps and fragments. 
The student is thus introduced at once to acquaintance with several of the ap- 
proved works of the best German authors. 



D. APPLFTOX & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 7 

Adler's Iphigenia in Tauris. 

Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris. A drama in 5 acts. Translated into 
English by Prof. G. J. Adler. 12mo., boards, 75 cents. 
A translation from Goethe by one •who is able thoroughly to appreciate his 
inmost beauties, and to present them to the English reader is unusual. But we 
have it here. The difficulty of translating Goethe's dramatic works well, is 
attested by the numerous abortive attempts to give a good translation of his 
Faust. 

Aguilar's Home Influence. 

Home Influence: A Tale for Mothers and Daughters. By Grace 
Aguilar. 12mo, cloth, 50 cents. 

Aguilar's Mother's Recompense. 

The Mother's Recompense ; A sequel to " Home Influence." A 
Story. By Grace Agctlar. 12mo., paper, 50 cents ; cloth, 75 cents. 

The high moral tone of these works placed the author at once in a com- 
manding position among the great instrnctors of the age. All her succeeding 
works immediately arrested the attention of the reading public. 



Aguilar's Vale of Cedars. 



The Tale of Cedars ; or, The Martyr. A Story of Spain in the Fif- 
teenth Century. By Grace Aguilar. 12mo., paper, 50 cents; 
cloth, 75 cents. 

The Tale of Cedars, in addition to its great merit as an instructive and in- 
teresting tale, has a peculiar value from the light it throws on the history of 
the Jews in Spain, and especially on that of the Crypto-Judaism which pre- 
vailed so extensively in that country during the reigns of Charles the Fifth 
and Philip the Second. 



Aguilar's Days of Bruce. 



The Days of Bruce. A Story from Scottish History. By Grace 
Aguilar. 2 vols. 16mo. paper, $1 ; cloth, $1 50. 

This historical novel, covering the same ground with the celebrated " Scot- 
tish Chiefs," 1 belongs to a greatly superior order in the scale of imaginative 
and semi-historical literature. It deserves to be even more popular than 
its famous predecessor. 



Aguilar's Home Scenes. 

Home Scenes and Heart Studies. A collection of Tales and Sketches. 
By Grace Aguilar. 12mo., paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents. 

The short sketches in this book are characterized by the same delicate 
feeling and high moral sentiment as the author's larger works. 



8 D. APPLETON & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 

Aguilar's Women of Israel. 

The Women of Israel. By Grace Aguilab. 2 vols. 12mo., paper, 

$1 ; cloth, $1 50. 

The subject of this work was peculiarly inspiring to the lamented author 
who was herself a daughter of Israel. This circumstance imparts a peculiai 
interest to the work, and distinguishes it from the numerous other books on 
the same subject. 

Aguilar's Woman's Friendship. 

Woman's Friendship. A Story of Domestic Life. By Grace Agui- 
lae. 12mo., cloth, 75 cents ; paper, 50 cents. 

Agnel's Book of Chess. 

The Book of Chess : containing the Rudiments of the Game, and 
Elementary Analysis of the most Popular Openings, exemplified in 
Games actually played by the Great Masters ; including Staunton's 
Analysis of the Kings and Queens, Gammits, Numerous Positions, 
and Problems on Diagrams, &c. By Prof. H. R. Ag>~el. With Il- 
lustrations, by B. W. Weir. 12mo., cloth, §1 25. 
The completest book ret published on Chess. It is enlivened by some 

capital stories of famous Chess-players, with admirably engraved illustrations 

from the designs of Weir. 

Aikin's British Poets. 

The Works of the British Poets, from Chaucer to the present time. 
Selected and Chronologically arranged ; with Biographical and 
Critical Notices. By Dr. Aikix and others. 3 large vols. 8vo., 
with SO fine steel Engravings. Extra cloth, new style, $7 50 ; sheep, 
$7 50 ; morocco, extra, or ant. $18. 

This collection of the gems of British poesy is not made up of scraps and 
fragments, but is entirely composed of complete poems, the master-pieces 
of their respective authors. The importance of this feature will at once be re- 
cognized. The collection is by far the most complete of its kind. 

Allen's Mechanics of Nature. 

Philosophy of the Mechanics of Xature, and of the Source and Modes 
of Propagation of Natural Motive Powers. By L. At.t.f.x. 1 vol. 
large octavo, illustrated with numerous wood-cuts ; cloth, $3 50. 
A novel subject treated with great learning and abihty. Its practical im« 
portance is much greater than would seem possible at the first view. 

Amelia's Poems, see welby. 



D. AFPLETOX & CO.'s LIST OF BOOKS. 9 

American Angler's Guide. 

The American Angler's Guide; or, Complete Fisher's Manual for 

the United States. Fourth edition. 1 vol. beautifully illustrated 

Extra cloth, $1 50. 

This work is what it professes to be, viz. : a practical guide for actual use-. 
The information it contains respecting the fishes to be found in our rivers and 
on the coasts, the methods and seasons for taking them, and the various kinds 
of fishing tackle, bait, &c, is fresh, and drawn from original sources. The 
book is already in very general use among sportsmen. 

American Historical Tales. 

American Historical Tales for Youth. 1 vol. 18mo., cloth, 75 cents. 
A neat pocket volume— a great favorite of the juvenile portion of the 
reading public. 

American Poets. 

Gems from American Poets. One neat vol., 32mo. Frontispiece, 
gilt leaves, 38 cents. 

American System of Education. 

1. Hand-Book of Anglo-Saxon Root- Words, in three parts. I. In- 

structions about Anglo-Saxon Root-Words. II. Studies in .An- 
glo-Saxon Root-Words. III. The Beginnings of the Root- 
Words. By a Literary Association. 12mo., 50 cents. 

2. Hand-Book of Anglo-Saxon Derivatives, on the basis of the 

Hand-Book of Anglo-Saxon Root-Words. In three parts. I. 
Materials of Anglo-Saxon Derivatives. II. Studies in Anglo- 
Saxon Derivatives. III. The Beginning of Words. By a Lit- 
erary Association. 12mo., 75 cents. 

3. Hand-Book of the Engrafted Words of the English Language ; 

embracing the choice Gothic, Celtic, French, Latin, and Greek 
Words, on the basis of the " Hand-Book of the Anglo-Saxon 
Root- Words." In three parts. I. The Materials of the Orthog- 
raphy. II. Studies in the Orthography. III. English Etymo- 
logy. By a Literary Association. 12mo., $1. 

Anderson's Mercantile Correspondence. 

Practical Mercantile Correspondence. A Collection of Modern Let- 
ters of Business, with Notes Critical and Explanatory, an Analytical 
Index, and an Appendix, containing Pro Forma Invoices, Account 
Sales, Bills of Lading, and Bills of Exchange. Also, 'an Explanation 
of the German Chain Rule, as applicable to the Calculation of Ex- 
changes. By W. Axdersox. 12mo., 81. 
This is by no means an ordinary "Letter Book." It is so complete, that 

the most intelligent clerk will derive advantage from having it always at hand 

tor reference. It should be found in every counting-room. 

1* 



10 D. APPLETOX & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 

Andrews' New French Instructor. 

A ISew and Comprehensive French Instructor; based upon ac 
Original and Philosophical Method, applicable to the study of all 
Languages. With an Introduction explanatory of the Method, and 
Treatise on French Pronunciation. By S. P. Andrews. 12mo., 
$1 25. 
A Key to the above. $1. 

The Lessons are full ; the Eules, clear ; the Exercises, short and simple. 
They embody a complete course of Comparative Grammar, -while their pecu- 
liar arrangement leaves the teacher free as to the use to be made of the theo- 
retical portions. 

The student who is without a teacher will find himself completely guided, 
by this new method, through the intricacies of French Grammar and Pronun- 
ciation. 

Annals of San Francisco. 

The Annals of San Francisco : Containing a summary of the history 
of the first discovery, settlement, progress, and present condition of 
California, and a complete history of all the important events con- 
nected with its great city ; to which are added biographical memoirs 
of some prominent citizens. By F. Soule, J. H. Gihox, and J. Xis- 
bet. Illustrated with 150 engravings. 1 large vol. 8vo., cloth, 
83 50. 

In roan, $4. 

In extra roan gilt edges, $4 50. 

In half calf extra, $5. 

This -work is far more extensive and important than its title indicates. It 
is a complete history of California from the time of its first discovery. No 
pains or expense has been spared in getting it up. Every part is embellished 
■with elaborate engravings on steel and "wood, embracing scenery, views of in- 
teresting places, and portraits of distinguished persons connected with the his- 
tory of California. 

Anthon's Catechisms and Homilies. 

An Easy Catechism for Children, or, the Church Catechism with 
Scripture Proofs. By Rev. Dr. H. Axthox. Part I., price 6£ cents. 

Catechisms on the Homilies of the Church. [Contexts. — I. Of the 
Misery of Mankind. II. Of the Nativity of Christ. III. Of the 
Passion of Christ. IT. Of the Resurrection of Christ.] By Rev. 
Dr. H. Axthox. ISmo., paper cover, 6i cents. 

Anthon's Law Student- 

The Law Student ; or, Guides to the Study of the Law in its Princi- 
ples. By John Axthox. Octavo, law sheep, $3. 

This work is written by one of the most eminent lawyers in the country ; 
and it has received the approbation of the legal profession generally, as a useful 
Ya.de Mecum for the student. 



D. APPLETON & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 11 

Ansted's Gold- Seeker's Manual. 

The Gold-Seeker's Manual ; being a Practical and Instructive Guide 

to all persons emigrating to the Gold Regions of California. By 

Prof. D. T. Ansted. 12mo., paper, 25 cents. 

The information contained in this volume is of a strictly practical nature. 
It is needless to remark that the uniformity of the indications in different gold 
regions, render it as applicable to the -wants of the mining emigrant to E razor's 
Eiver, as it has already proved to thousands in California. 

Appleton's New American Cyclopaedia. 

Appleton's New American Cyclopaedia : a Popular Dictionary of 
General Knowledge. Edited by George Ripley and Charles A. 
Daxa. Vols. 1, 2, 3, (to be in 15.) Large 8vo. cloth, per vol., $3; 
sheep, $3 50 ; half morocco, $4 ; half russia extra, $4 50. 

A new American Cyclopedia has for some time been one of the most im- 
perative wants of the reading public. All the foreign Cyclopaedias recently 
published are grossly deficient in information respecting our own country ; and 
the Encyclopaedia Americana, an excellent work in its day, is now more than a 
quarter of a century old. During the period which has elapsed since its publi- 
cation, science and literature in all their departments have made more rapid 
strides than in any twenty-five years since the Creation. The publishers of 
Appleton's New American Cyclopaedia, in supplying this long desired work, 
have determined to spare neither pains nor expense in rendering it such as the 
age demands. The best talent, both in Europe and America has been engaged, 
and is now supplying articles in the several departments of the work. Each 
■writer works on articles in his own special science ; and the result, as evinced 
in the several volumes already published, is a degree of freshness, complete- 
ness, and finish, in each article, which would have been wholly unattainable on 
any other system. The rigid criticism of the editors prevents the insertion of 
any articles of inferior character either in matter or style ; and many of them 
are models of composition. By some of the leading literary and scientific men 
of the day, veterans in literature and science, the work has been pronounced 
the most entertaining of its class for reading at leisure hours. To the man of 
business, and the lawyer, physician, and divine, it is of great value as a book 
of daily reference. The vast amount of new and original matter which it con- 
tains, and the care with which all scientific subjects of a progressive character 
are brought down to the present time, render the work indispensable to those 
who would keep their stock of general information up to the demands of 
modern society. 

Among the contributors are the Hon. Edward Everett, the Hon. George 
Bancroft, George Ticknor, Esq., George S. HUlard, Esq. ; Prof. Felton, of Har- 
vard ; Prof. JohnsoD, of Yale ; Prof. Peaslee, and Prof. Gilman, of New York ; 
C. L. Flint, Secretary to the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture ; Prof. Alcott, 
of Westchester Agricultural School; Prof. Cutting, of Eochester University; 
E. W. Youmans, of Xew York ; Count de Gurowski, Baron de Trobriand ; M. 
Brown-Sequard, of Paris; Ealph Waldo Emerson; Eichard Hilldreth ; Henry 
T. Tuckerman; William Gilmore Simms; Henry W. Herbert; 0. A. Brown- 
son, LL.D. ; Parke Godwin ; George W. Curtis ; E. G. Squier; Edmund Quincy ; 
John E. Thompson, of the Southern Literary Messenger; Charles G. Leland; 
Dr. E. Shelton Mackenzie ; Eichard K. Cralle, of Virginia ; Dr. J. W. Palmer, 
of New York; W. L. Symonds, of Harvard University; &c, &c. 



12 



D. APPLETON & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 



Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Elo- 
quence. 

Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Eloquence : a Collection of 
Speeches and Addresses by the most eminent Orators of America ; 
with Biographical Sketches and illustrative Notes. By Frank 
Moore. Two handsome volumes, large 8vo., embellished with the 
finest steel-plate portraits. (Published by subscription.) Cioth, $5; 
sheep, $6 ; half morocco, $7. 

[Contents : James Otis, Patrick Henry, R. H. Lee, W. H. Dray- 
ton, Joseph "Warren, James Wilson, William Livingstone, Fisher 
Ames, John Rutledge, Madison, Jay, Randolph, Hamilton, Hancock, 
Adams, Washington, Elias Boudinot, John Dickinson, &c, &c.J 
It is not surprising that this work has met with such remarkable success. 
The author has done for American eloquence what had been so rbly accom- 
plished for the eloquence of Great Britain by Professor Goodrich. The collec- 
tion of speeches and biographies of the great orators of America is so complete 
and satisfactory, that it has been received by the public with unbounded favor. 
A sufficient number and variety of the speeches of each great orator is given 
in the collection, to enable the reader to form an adequate idea of his general 
power of eloquence, as well as of the peculiarities of his style and method. 
For the law student, the divine or the political aspirant, this book forms a series 
of most useful studies, as indispensable to high achievements in eloquence, as 
the study of the works of the great masters is to the success of the artist. To 
the general reader it is acceptable, from its enabling him to take at once a gen- 
eral survey of the whole field of American eloquence — to see what has been 
done, and how nobly it bears comparison with what has been accomplished by 
other nations both ancient and modern. 



Appleton's Cyclopaedia of Biography. 

Appleton's Cyclopsedia of Biography, Foreign and American, em- 
bracing a series of Original Memoirs of the most distinguished Per- 
sons of all Times. Edited by Francis L. Hawks, D. D., LL. D. 
With over 600 Engravings. 1 very large vol. 8vo., sheep, $4 50. 

In half calf extra, $5. 

In full calf extra, $6. 

This Biographical Dictionary is on a new plan, similar in one respect to 
that of Appleton's New American Cyclopaedia. The biographies are original, 
written by the ablest persons in the several departments of science or litera- 
ture to which they belong. Thus the principal names in the department of 
Mathematical and Physical sciences were intrusted to Sir David Brewster and 
Professor Nichol. Those appertaining to History, Politics, Law, Military Sci- 
ence and Art, and Ecclesiastical affairs, were written by Sir Archibald Alison, 
John H. Burton, Professor Cressy, Professor Eadie, Professor Ferguson, Elihu 
Eich, and the Editor ; and so on with the other departments. The result is a- 
great degree of intelligence and sound criticism in the estimate of distin- 
guished characters, and a very high tone of composition throughout the work. 
The embellishments consist of portraits and memorials, birth-places, and tombs 
of remarkable persons. 



D. APPLETON & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 13 

Appleton's Cyclopaedia of Drawing. 

Appleton's Cyclopaedia of Drawing, designed as a Text-Book for the 
Mechanic, Architect, Engineer and Surveyor. Comprising Geomet- 
rical Projection, Mechanical, Architectural, and Topographical Draw- 
ing, Perspective, and Isometry. Edited by W. E. Worthex. One 
handsome vol. royal 8vo., full of drawings. Cloth, $6. 
Half morocco, $7 50. 

This is a new work, just issued from the press, and contains the latest 
results of artistical progress in the several departments of drawing, both in 
Europe and America. It is of inestimable value as a Test-book for constant 
use. 

Appleton's Library Manual. 

Appleton's Library Manual ; or, Catalogue Raisonné of upwards of 
Twelve Thousand of the most important Works in every Depart- 
ment of Knowledge, in all Modern Languages. 1 vol., large 8vo., 
pp. 434. Half-bd., §1 25. 

A very convenient guide for those who are forming libraries, as it contains 
books in every department, which can be obtained without the trouble of 
sending to Europe for any of them. 

Appleton's Dictionary of Machines and En- 
gineering. 

Appleton's Dictionary of Machines, Mechanics, Engine "Work and 
Engineering. Designed for Men of Science, Practical Working 
Men, and those intended for the Engineering Profession. Contain- 
ing over 4,000 engravings on wood. Complete in 2 large vols., 
strongly bound in half morocco, $12. 

Many thousand copies of this excellent book of reference have already 
found their way into the offices and workshops of our civil engineers and 
practical mechanics, as well as into social and private libraries in the city and 
country. It is the most complete and convenient book of reference on Ma- 
chines and Engineering which has yet appeared. 

OPINIONS OF THE PEESS. 

"To our numerous Manufacturers, Mechanics, Engineers, and Artisans, u 
will be a mine of wealth. 11 — Providence Journal. 

" Young men, arm yourselves with its knowledge. "We can with confidence 
recommend our readers to possess themselves of its numbers as fast as they 
appear.' 1 — American Artisan. 

" We unhesitatingly commend the work to those engaged in or interested 
in mechanical or scientific pursuits, as eminently worthy of their examination 
and study." — Troy Budget. 

" It is truly a great work, and the publishers deserve the thanks of inven- 
tors, machinists, and manufacturers, and indeed of the public generally." — 
Independent. 

""We regard it as one of the most comprehensive and valuable, as well aâ 
cheapest works ever published." — Baltimore Advertiser. 

"All interested in mechanics should avail themselves of its advantages." — 
Schuylkill Journal. 



14 D. APPLETOX & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 

Appleton's Mechanic's Magazine. 

Mechanic's Magazine and Engineer's Journal. Natural, Experi- 
mental, and Mechanical Philosophy, the Arts and Sciences. Yol. I., 
numerous Illustrations, 8vo., cloth, $3 50. 
The same. Vols. II. and III. in 4to., cloth, each $3 50. 

" This periodical has already secured for itself the rank of the best popular 
journal for practical men in the mechanical arts and sciences that our country 
has produced."— A 7 ". Y. Tribune. 

Appleton's Popular Library. 

Appleton's Popular Library of the best English Authors. 
TJie following Volumes are now ready, uniformly hound infancy cloth. 

Essays from the LondoD Times. First and Second Series, 50 cents 

each. 
The Yellowplush Papers. By Thackeray. 50 cents. 
The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell. 50 cents. 
Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China, in 1844r-6. By M. Hue. 2 

vols., $1. 
Gaieties and Gravities. By Horace Smith. 50 cents. 
The Paris Sketch Book. By W. M. Thackerat. 2 vols., $1. 
Little Pedlington and the Pedlingtonians. By John Poole. 2 

vols., $1. 
The Ingoldsby Legends. First Series. By Bev. Bichard Harris 

Barhaji. 50 cents. 
The Book of Snobs. By W. M. Thackeray. 50 cents. 
Papers from the Quarterly Beview. By Sir Fraxcis Head and 

others. 50 cents. 
A Journey to Katmandu; or, the Nepaulese Ambassador at Home. 

50 cents. 
A Book for Summer Time in the Country. By R. A. Willmott. 

50 cents. 
Papers from Blackwood's Magazine. 50 cents. 
Men's Wives. By TV. M. Thackeray. 50 cents. 
Life and Memorials of Daniel Webster. 2 vols., $1. 
A Shabby Genteel Story. By Thackeray. 50 cents. 
Punch's Prize Novelists. By Thackeray. 50 cents. 
Confessions of Fitz Boodle, &c. By Thackeray. 50 cents. 
Jeames's Diarv, and other Tales. Bv Thackeray. 50 cents. 
Mr. Brown's Letters to a Toung Man. 50 cents. 
The Luck of Barry Lyndon. 2 vols., $1. 
The Lives of Wellington and Peel. 1 vol., 50 cents ; or, the same in 

extra cloth, each vol. 63 cents. 
It will be observed that the above list combines the most popular of Thack- 
eray's "Works, the exceedingly valuable travels of M. Hue, and many other 
books of great interest. The selections from the " Times,"' the Quarterly Ke- 
view, and Blackwood's Magazine, have been very highly approved by scholars 
and critics. 



D. APPLETON & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 15 

Appleton's American Guide-Book. 

Appleton's Illustrated Hand-Book of American Travel. A full and 
reliable Guide by Railway, Steamboat and Stage, to tbe principal 
Cities and places of interest in the United States and British Pro- 
vinces. Thick 12mo., many maps and engravings. Cloth, §2. 
Do. do. separately : 

1. Eastern and Middle States and British Provinces, $1 25. 

2. Southern and Western States and the Territories, $1 25. 

Xo European Guide Eook will bear comparison with this. The engravings 
ore drawn by first-rate artists, and executed in the finest style of engraving. 
The historical and statistical information respecting the cities, towns, and re- 
markable localities throughout the country, is very full, having been drawn 
from original sources. "With this " Guide Book 1 ' as a companion in travelling, 
one derives ten times the benefit in the way of acquiring a knowledge of the 
different places, their relr.tive importance and interest, and their connection 
with the past history of t\e country, which could be obtained in any other 
way. 

Appleton's Railway Guide. 

Appleton's Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, published semi- 
monthly, under the supervision of the Railway Companies. 12mo., 
paper, 25 cents. 

All the world knows the merit of this Manual. Its sale in all parts of the 
country has made its title " familiar " in our mouths as household words. 

Arnold's Rhode-Island. 

History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 

By Hon. Sam. Greene Arnold. Illustrated. 2 vols., 8vo., cloth. 

1858. S • 

The History of Ehode Island possesses great interest. The circumstances 
attending the banishment of Eoger Williams for heresy, and the consequent 
establishment of religious liberty in the colony he founded, have exerted a 
potential influence in its whole subsequent history down to the present hour. 
Mr. Arnold has fully appreciated the capability of his subject, and has pro- 
duced a history of his native State which will be recognized as standard and 
classical. 

Arnold's History of Rome. 

The History of Rome. Reprinted entire from the last London Edi- 
tion. Three volumes in one. By Thomas Arnold, D. D. 8vo., 
cloth, $3. 

This is the great work on which Dr. Arnold's colossal reputation is founded. 
Without going all lengths with Niebuhr, and the other ultra reforme^, he 
-ejects the fabulous portion of Eoman history, and while he gives the old 
legends in their original form, he points out their fallacy, and subjects every 
part of the Eoman history to that rigid criticism, which is founded on exten- 
sive lerrnlng and sound judgment. This edition is in large type, on fine paper, 
and in all respecte worthy of a place in the most recherche libraries. 






16 



D. APPLETO" & CO. 'S LIST OF BOOKS. 



Arnold's Modern History. 



Lectures on 2Iodern History, delivered in Lent Term, 1542, with the 
Inaugural Lecture delivered in 1541. By Thomas Aexold. D. D. 
Edited, with a Preface and Notes, by Henry Reed, M. A., Prcf. of 
Eng, Li:, in the University of Pa. 12mo., cloth, $1 25. 

These lectures are universally admitted to be among the most important 
and valuable of Dr. Arnold's -works. They make the reader acquainted with 
the true methods of historical inquiry, whether for the purpose of learning or 
of writing history. He places his standard high, and exacts much labor and 
research from the student ; but his own example shows that his method is the 
true one. In iact, it is the method which all eminently successful historians 
hare followed. Even a cursory reading of Macaulay shows that Dr. Arnold's 
method was his method — that, namely, which exhausts all the topics of in- 
quiry, and leaves nothing which can illustrate the actual life of past ages unex- 
amined. 



Arnold's Classical Series :— 

FLR5T LATIN BOOK: re-modelled, re-written, and adapted to the 
Ollendorff ilethed of Instruction. By Albeet Haeexess. 1 voL, 
12mo., 75 cents. 

5 rveral improvements have been introduced by Mr. IL, and an effort made 
to simplify and render more clear the elementary portions of the work of Dr. 
Arnold. It is a capital book. 

A LIRST AM) SECOND LATLN" BOOK AND PRACTICAL 
GRA3LALAR. Revised and carefully corrected, by J. A. Spexces. 
A. M. 1 vol. 12mo., 75 cents. 

A most admirable volume, based on the true principles of learning a lan- 
guage, viz., those of imitation and repetition. 

LATIN PROSE COMPOSITION : a Practical Introduction to Latin 
Prose Composition. Revised and corrected by J. A. Spexces. A. M 
15mo., fL 

ted. differences of idiom noted, cant!:::? u ta niceties pointed out, and every 

he'.t it: tie i t: — iri? àtt-iinir.* -i pttre ~-i f.:~ing Li tin Style. 

CORNELIUS NEPOS : with Practical Questions and Answers, and 
an Imitative Exercise on each Chapter. Revised, with Additional 
Notes, by Prof. Johxsox, Professor of the Latin Language in the 
University of the City of New York. 12mo. A new, enlarged edi- 
tion, with Lexicon, Index, A:. $1. 

Very excellent especially on account of the Exercises formed on the model 
of :"ne text, by which the pupil becomes more thoroughly acquainted with the 
author and lie language in general. A good vocabulary is attached. 

^TRST GREEK BOOK, on the Plan of the First Latin Book. Re- 
vised and corrected by J. A. Spexcee. A 21. 12mo., 75 cents. 

A new and very admirable volume prepared by Prof Spencer from tho 
work of Dr. Arnolï It is equally good with the First Latin Book, and carries 

: 7.t the same trt~ cities t: t~_r_r Lerirlnnite resnlts. 



D. APPLETON & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 17 

Arnold's Classical Series.— Continued. 

GREEK PROSE COMPOSITION : a Practical Introduction to Greek 

Prose Composition. Revised and corrected by J. A. Spexcer, A. H. 

1 vol., 12mo., 75 cents. 

Exact, clear, direct, and copious. It is intended for use at a rather early 
etage, viz., directly following the First Greek Book, or simultaneously with the 
Greek Beading Book. 

GREEK PROSE COMPOSITION. Part II. A Practical Introduc 
tion to Greek Prose Composition. Part II. (The Particles.) 75c. 

In this volume the Particles are treated in full, and tho student carried as 
far forward as is possible in the art of composition in Greek. 

GREEK READING BOOK, for the Use of Schools ; containing the 

substance of the Practical Introduction to Greek Construing, and a 

Treatise on the Greek Particles ; and also a Copious Selection from 

Greek Authors, with English Notes, Critical and Explanatory, and a 

Lexicon, by J. A. Spexcer, A. M. 12mo., $1 25. 

A capital volume, having admirable Introductory Exercises on the Forms 
and Idioms of the language ; a choice collection of passages (of length) from 
standard authors ; notes clear and precise ; and a copious Lexicon atthe end. 
It is fully equal to any one of the series. 

In the above works Mr. Arnold has had the good sense to adopt the system 
of nature. A child learns his own language by imitating what he hears, and 
constantly repeating it till it is fastened in the memory ; in the same way Mr. 
A. puts the pupil immediately to work at Exercises in Latin and Greek, in- 
volving the elementary principles of the language — words are supplied — the 
mo^le of putting them together is told the pupil — he is shown how the ancients 
expressed their ideas, and then, by repeating these things again and again — 
iterum iterumque — the docile pupil has them indelibly impressed upon his 
memory and rooted in his understanding. 

The American editor is a thorough classical scholar, and has been a practi- 
cal teacher for years in this city. He has devoted the utmost care to a com- 
plete revision of Mr. Arnold's works ; has corrected several errors of inadver- 
tence or otherwise, has rearranged and improved various matters in the early 
volumes of the series, and has attended most diligently to tho accurate print- 
ing and mechanical execution of the whole. "We anticipate most confidently 
the speedy adoption of the works in our schools and colleges. 



Arnot's Gothic Architecture. 

Gothic Architecture Applied to Modern Residences. Containing 
Designs for Entrances, Halls, Stairs, and Parlors, Window Frames, 
and Door Panelling ; the Jamb and Label Mouldings to a large 
scale; the Decorations of Chimney Breasts and Mantels, &c. Illus- 
trated with Forty Plates. By D. H. Aexot. 4to., Numbers, 1 to 9 ; 
each 50 cents. 

It is one of the most finished publications upon this subject we have ever 
seen. The designs are beautiful in themselves, and well executed ; and this 
book is riot only calculated to greatly aid the practical architect, but is also a 
work of interest to the general reader. 



15 r. applet: >- à co.'s usr op books. 

Arthnr's Tired of Housekeeping. 



Arthur's Successful Merchant. 

^S::-h:;:::-::;::. 5>e7:r.r5 :: \z? Z.LÎ- ::"l- r r. S^-_z". I_i- 
Ttt:. I'- V. .Lztttz.. lîzi :.. rijfr " : i_5 :l:::i. 7: certs. 

rif _ i".--e- -: :1> — :r"i îrjrr.îi zz-zz ::; z~zzr.z rrzi. I: r:irr= :~: tie 
rrzi s-eir-: :: ;-:-:-«s. . .";::i:t: z~ z-.z.i. ezr-.~r.rzzr. It :ï rr'r :: :: : 



Astor Library Catalogue. 

branr. In two Parts. 

Part L Authors and Books. Tols. 1 and 2, (A. I_.) in large Sro. 

V;ls : :i:i 11, Z.. zizz'.j rizij. 

Attache in Madrid. 

2; i:::::e zz ILiizii :r. S>t::"-t5 :: :':; C;zrt ::" Is-lel:. II. 
Vf— 'l-i.j -zzi zzzzy.zz. Tzzî z.zzzzri : elite zz ILzLr.L ire itr'rlj — : 



Aunt Fanny's Story Book. 

±zzzzz Izzzz-'s St-: — 3::i: :":r Little I:~s zz. i Girls. l:r_:. Litts- 
tr-itei. Eriris. El tettts :l:ti. '.'. rents 



Badois' English Grammar for Frenchmen. 

>./-:.:_::.: e Attzitise i'-rrrS ie sjs:;— e i' Oiler, litf. z it, z.:z- irj 



Key to the above, •: 

7_:i i; i .'.-zz zz\ zzz 
zzz. zz. :z:z..iz: ': : . > :". : 
:--r-r -_i Zz: Z 

ZIZ..Z zz zzr '-r'-. ".-. : 



D. APPLETO^s" & CO. '5 LIST OF BOOKS. 19 

Baldwin's Flush Times. 

The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi. A Series of Sketches. 

By J. G. Baldwin. Illustrated with engravings. 12mo., cloth, §1 25. 

For that peculiar species of humor called grave banter, "Washington Irving 
has hitherto been unrivalleL But "Flush Times" will bear comparison even 
■with Knickerbocker's History of Xew York. The irony is cf the richest and 
most humorous vein. It is unmatchable. The virtuous, patriotic, and brave 
Colonel Suggs has become a classical character, and ■will go down to po;~. : : . :~ 
with Sancho Panza, and Eip Tan "Winkle. 

Baldwin's Party Leaders. 

Party Leaders : 5kr::hes of Thomas Jefferson, Alex. Hamilton, An- 
drew Jackson, Henry Clay, John Randolph, including Notices of 
many other distinguished American Statesmen. By J. G. Baldwin-. 
L2mo., cloth, $1. 

"Cnder the title of " Parry Leaders." Mr. Baldwin has comprised a graphie 
sketch of the history of political parties in the United Stares. I: is a work of 
.::_::-: and its sr.rited and readable style redeems it from the dryness 
which seems inseparable from the subject. Mr. Baldwin is the first writer who 
has satisfactorily solved the hitherto enigmatical problem of John Eandolph's 
erratic political course. He has so needed in making the character and motives 
of that remarkable statesman and orator intelligible. Mr. Baldwin's estimate 
of Mr. Clay is another important feature of this book. He understands, and 
does justice to the astonishing ability and force of character which enabled that 
man to exercise a more durable and commanding influence over the intel- 
lectual and reflecting portion of his countrymen, than any other polir. :::m 
whom the country has produced. The other great party leaders are discussed 
with equal ability in this work, which should always accompany Benton's Con- 
gre 5H0nal Debates, as a sort of key and commentary. 

Mrs. Balmanno's Pen and Pencil, 

Pen and Pencil. By Mrs. Baliia>-xo. Consisting of original Let- 
ters of English History, Arcistical Anecdotes, Reminiscences of Emi- 
nent Men, Sketch of Eeudal Times in England, Archaeological In- 
quiries, Poems, «fcc, <£c. Illustrated with I. Engravings, consii:- 
ing of Portraits, Tiews, and Poetical Subjects. One vol. small 4m 
In extra cloth gilt, $5 ; morocco, $7. 

An exquisite volume, which all lovers of the beautiful will not fail to ad- 
mire. 

Baretti's Italian and English Dictionary. 

A Dictionary of the Italian and English Dictionaries. By J. Ba- 
7.ITTI. A new edition, thoroughly revised and enlarged by Joh>* 
Daventoet and Gcl. Cometatt. Two large vols.. r~;.. London,) 
cloth. -<7. 

Or in half morocco, % . 

This is the standard dictionary, ir le for the critical ::ndy of the 

Italian language and literature. 



20 D. APPLETOX & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 

Barrett's Golden Reed. 

The Golden Reed ; or, The True Measure of a True Church. By B. 
F. Barrett. 12mo., cloth, $1. « 

This work has attracted much attention, from the originality and the spir- 
itual elevation of the author's views. It is written, too, in a remarkably forci- 
ble and impressive style. 

Barrett's Beauty for Ashes. 

Beauty for Ashes ; or, the Old and the Xew Doctrine concerning 
the State of Infants after Death, contracted. By B. F. Barrett. 
12mo., cloth, 50 cents. 

llourning parents will derive great consolation from the reading of this 
volume. It is not speculative or mystical ; but the author draws his doctrine 
directly from the Divine Word. 

Barry Cornwall's Plays and Poems. 

Dramatic Scenes and other Poems. By Baret Corxwall. One 
handsome vol. Svo., profusely illustrated. Extra cloth, gilt, $5. 

A beautiful gift-book. The author's high moral tone renders his poetry 
perfectly unexceptionable as a present for persons of the most refined taste 
in this respect. The embellishments are in the highest style of illustra- 
tive art 

Bartlett's TJ. S. Explorations. 

Personal Narrative of the D. S. Explorations and Incidents in Xew 
Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, connected with the Sur- 
vey of the Mexican Boundary, during the Years 1S50-51-52-53. 
TTith Maps and Illustrations. By J. B. Bartlett. Two large vols., 
Svo., cloth, $5. 

Or in half calf, $7. 

Or, cheap edition, 2 vols, in 1, bound, $4. 

This is one of those gorgeously embellished books of travels lately issued 
under the auspices of the Government of the United States. The narrative ù 
full of novelty and interest for the general reader. 

Bartol, on Marine Boilers. 

Treatise on the Marine Boilers of the United States Steamships. By 
B. H. Bartol. Svo., cloth, $1 50. 

Full of practical information of great value to manufacturers, who use it 
extensively as a manual for the workshop. 

Barton's Classic Tale. 

Io : a Tale of the Ancient Fane. By J. K. Baetox. 12mo., paper, 

50 cents ; cloth, 75 cents. 

A romance of love and adventure in the cities of ancient Greece. Among 
the learned and accomplished writers in this field of literature, none has been 
more successful than the writer of this story. It is full of passion and tender- 
ness, and the style is fervid and eloquent 



D. APPLETOX & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 21 

Harwell's Good in Every Thing. 

Good in Every Thing ; a Juvenile Tale. By Mrs. Baeweix. Hand- 
somely illustrated One voL, lomo., 50 cents. 

Mrs. Barwell is one of the most popular of the writers for children. Her 
■works will bear comparison with those of Edgeworth and Barbanld, 

Barth's Travels in Africa. 

levels and Discoveries in Xorth and Central Africa; Being a Jour- 
nal of an Expedition undertaken under the auspices of H. B. M.'s 
Government, in the years 1549 to 1S55. By He>~rt B^eth, Ph. D., 
D. C. L., &c. 3 thick vols., Svo., beautifully printed, and embel- 
lished •with a profusion of fine colored engravings, and numerous 
maps. Cloth (published at £-3 3s.) price reduced to $10. 
Barth's Travels have made a very important addition to our knowledge of 
Africa. He penetrated from the northern coast as far as the eighth degree of 
north latitude ; and as Dr. Livingstone, in his recent explorations, reached the 
eighth degree of south latitude, there remains only a belt of 16 degrees, reach- 
ing nearly across the peninsula, to be explored. Barth remained a considera- 
ble time in the large and powerful kingdoms previously visited by Denham 
and Clapperton, and gives :- great deal of minute information respecting them, 
supplying the deficiencies of the meagre accounts published by his predeees- 
sors ; and he penetrated far beyond their range among new and hitherto 
unknown tribes. His patient and careful observation, and his clearness and 
thoroughness in description, are unsurpassed by any traveller. Tfi* accounts 
of Bornou, Soudan, and other large kingdoms of the interior, are like a new 
revelation of the power, resources, and material progress of the African 
■atwna 

Bassnett's Theory of Storms. 

Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms ; containing the true law 
of Lunar Influence, with Practical Instructions to the Navigator, to 
enable him approximately to calculate the coming changes of the 
"Wind and "Weather for any given day, and for any part of the 
Ocean. By T. Bass>"ett. 12mo., cloth, £L 

Beautiful Toems. 

Beautiful Poems of the last Two Centuries (unabridged.) Illustra- 
ted with î ." ] "Wood Engravings. By the most eminent English 
Artists, Biektt Eoestes, and others. The whole chronologically 
arranged. With a short Biography of each Poet. 1 elegant vol., 
small -ito., extra gilt edges, | ; morocco. % . 

List or Poems. — Milton's L' Allegro, Dryden's Alexander, Pope's Universal 
Prayer, Hymn to Seasons, Ode to Evening. Grij's Elegy, Goldsmith's Dé- 
serte 1 - S itmrilay Bight, Cowpert John Gilpin, Dibdin's Poor 
Jack. Keats' Eve ■:•:" St. Arzrs. Bloomfield's Farmer's Boy, Burial of Sir John 
Moore, Byron's Eve of Waterloo, Shelley's Skylark. 5 ::::"; Christmas Tide, 
Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, Hemans' Homes of England, Southey's Battle of 
Blenheim, Cam: isures of Hope, Moore's Evening Bells, Wordsworth's 
MichAL a Pastoral ; Eogers' Mine be s Cot, Tennyson's Charge of the Light 
Brigade. 



22 D. APPLETOX & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 

Beattie, Blair, and Collills , Poems. 

The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, and Collins. With Lives, 
Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Xotes, by Rev. G. Gilfil- 
lax. I vol., Svo., cloth, $1 25. 
Or in calf extra, $2 50. 

Gilfillan's known ability as a critic renders Ms edition of these classical 
poets preferable to any other. 



Benton's Thirty Years' View. 

Thirty Tears' View ; or, a History of the Working of the American 
Government for Thirty Years, from 1S20 to 1850; chiefly taken from 
the Congress Debates, the private papers of General Jackson, and 
the speeches of ex-Senator Benton, -with his actual view of men 
and affairs. With Historical Notes and Illustrations, and some 
Notices of eminent deceased cotemporaries. By Thos. H. Benton; 
Two very large vols., 8vo., cloth, $5 ; sheep, $6. 

Or in half calf, $8. 

The immense popularity of this work, and the numerous interesting ex- 
tracts from it which have found their way into the newspapers and periodicals 
of the day, render any comments upon its peculiar merits unnecessary. 



Benton's Debates of Congress. 

Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856. From 
Gales and Seaton's Annals of Congress ; from their Register of De- 
bates ; and from the Official Reported Debates, by John C. Rives. 
By the Author of " The Thirty Years' View." Vols. 1 to 8, (to be 
in 15 — published by Subscription.) Cloth, per vol., $3; sheep, 
$3 50 ; half morocco, $4 ; half Russia extra, $4 50. 
This work, although it is styled an abridgment, is so complete, that it ren- 
ders a reference to the immense tomes published by order of Congress unne- 
cessary. For the historical reader, the statesman, or even the writer of history, 
it leaves nothing further to be desired. All the speeches of any value or im- 
portance are given entire, and one may gain from this work a complete knowl- 
edge of the political history of the country, of the course taken by each party 
and each party leader, as well as the views entertained by all our great states- 
men on all measures proposed in Congress since the adoption of the Federal 
Constitution. For every library having ihe slightest pretension to complete- 
ness, it is indispensable. 



Beranger's Lyrical Poems. 

Two Hundred of Beranger's Lyrical Poems, done into English Terse, 
by William YorxG. 12mo., cloth, $1 25. 

A judicious selection from the songs of the greatest of the French lyrical 
poets, very spiritedly translated. 



D. APPLETOX & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 23 

Blackwood's Stories. 

Stories from Blackwood's Magazine. Selected by E. A. Dctckisck. 
16mo., red cloth, 50 cents ; extra brown cloth, 63 cents. 
These Stories, familiar and well remembered by the readers of Blackwood's 
1 1 _ ..zine. are now first collected and made accessible to the general reader. 

Blair's Poems. seeBEAn-iE. 
Blanehard's Tales of Travellers. 

Heads and Tales of Travellers and Travelling ; a Book for every 
body, going anywhere. By E. L. Blaxcttard. ISmo., illustrated 
by E. Y. Delamotte. Faper, 25 cents. 

A light, airy, lively, and exceedingly amusing, travelling companion, to 
put in one's C3rpet-bag, and read in the steamboat or railroad car. 

Bloomfield's Farmer's Boy. 

The Farmer's Boy. A rural Poem. By Roeeet Bloohtield. Em- 
bellished from drawings by Birket Forster, and others. One neat 
vol. square 12mo. Extra cloth gilt, §2 ; in tree marble calf, $3 ; in 
morocco, $3 50. 

Bloomfield has long been one of the most popular delineators of rural life. 
His pictures are all painted from nature. He was himself literally a Farmer's 
Boy. Numerous editions of his poems have been published in England ; but 
none has ever approached the present one in the elegance of its artistical em- 
bellishment 

Blonde and Brunette. 

Blonde and Brunette ; or, the Gothamite Arcady. 12mo., cloth, $ . 

Book of Common Prayer. 

The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacra- 
ments; and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to 
the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of 
America. In every size and style of binding. 

To say that there is a fashion about Prayer Books might be deemed irrev- 
erent and we will say no such thing ; but it is undeniable that there is a cer- 
tain style which is peculiarly appropriate for the volume which contains the 
beautiful and solemn liturgy of the Episcopal Church. The illuminations, 
pictures, type and binding, should all be in character. The whole getting up 
of the volume should have an air of solid respectability which belongs to the 
Church itself; and if something of the antique or middle -age taste C3n be su- 
peradded in the binding or illuminations, so much the better. Above all, the 
whole workmanship should be perfect fitted to last for ages ; so that a Prayer 
Book of the costly kind can be handed down to future generations, as an heir- 
loom in the fain:. 7. 

In the preparation and execution of the Prayer Books published by D. Ap- 
pleton & Co., these principles have been duly regarded, and purchases from 
their stock may be made with confidence in the correctness of the text, and 
the solid durability of the workmanship in the mechanical execution of each 
▼olume. 






24 D. APPLETON & CO.'S LIST OF BOOKS. 



The Berlin Gallery. 



Berlin and its Treasures. A series of views of its principal build- 
ings, churches, monuments, &c, with a selection from the Royal 
Picture Gallery. 1 vol. 4to., embellished with 110 of the finest steel 
engravings, with descriptive text, 1 thick vol. 4to., in morocco 
antique, $25. 

This work is executed in the most gorgeous style. It gives the reader « 
complete view of the Prussian metropolis and its treasures of art. The selec- 
tion from the Picture Gallery comprises the master-pieces of many of tha 
greatest painters that have lived. 



Boise's Greek Exercises. 

Exercises in Greek Proso Composition. Adapted to the first book 
of Xenophon's Anabasis. By Prof. J. R. Boise. One vol., 12mo., 
75 cents. 

These Exercises consist of easy sentences, similar to those in the Anabasis, 
in having the same words and constructions, and are designed by frequent 
repetition to make the learner familiar with the language of Xenophon. Ac- 
cordingly, the chapters and sections in both are made to correspond. No exer- 
cises can be more improving than those in this volume ; obliging the studcait 
as they do, by analysis and synthesis, to master the constructions employed by 
one of the purest of Greek writers, and imbuing him with the spirit of one of 
the greatest historians of all antiquity. 



Bojesen's Greek and Eoman Antiquities. 

A Manual of Grecian and Roman" Antiquities. Translated from tb* 
German of E. F. Bojesen ; edited, with Notes, and a complete Sérier 
of Questions, by the Rev. T. K. Arnold, M. A. Revised, with addi- 
tions and corrections. 12mo., cloth, $1. 

An admirable aid to the student of Antiquities. "We have never seen more 
accurate knowledge compressed within a smaller compass. Its arrangement is 
excellent, its style compact and precise ; and those best qualified to judge, bcai 
witness to its accuracy of detail. 



Bond's Golden Maxims. 

Golden Maxims ; or, a Thought every day in the Year, Devotional 

and Practical. Selected by the Rev. Robert Bond. 32mo., extra 

cloth, 31 cents. 

This is one of the best books of daily devotional reflection which has ever 
been published. The plan is a popular one, and has been applied to many de- 
votional works — the plan, namely, of giving the Christian a portion of daily 
bread of the spiritual kind for each day in the year ; but the author of the 
Golden Maxims has laid under contribution for his purpose the best and most 
pious writers of all ages. 



\/3 



